A Legend Is Born
by FireStallion
Summary: What would happen if you were forced to leave your home and ended up crashing on a remote island filled with everything trying to kill you? Find out when the exact same thing happens to sixteen year old Jaden.
1. Chapter 1

**A Legend Is Born**

**Chapter 1**

My story begins not long after I turned sixteen years old. I was happy. I had friends, a life-depending on who you asked though-and a boyfriend who actually cared about me. There was nothing more I could ask of anyone.

Well that wasn't completely true. It would have been nice to feel like I belonged in my family, when in every physical aspect I was the complete opposite of the family common of brown hair and equally brown eyes; I had blond hair and dark blue eyes. Even my personality was the opposite. They were outgoing and rebellious while I was docile and never questioned what I was told. None of it ever made sense to me. It wasn't until today that I found out why.

I had come home from a study date with Jesse, my boyfriend, and my parents were waiting for me. "What's going on?" I asked when I saw their two upset faces. "Whatever it is I didn't do it unless it was homework." I said inserted quickly before they could start on me.

"Sit down." My dad said calmly, his face giving away nothing.

"Okay what's wrong?" I asked feeling very nervous. I didn't like that tone he used. That was the tone he used whenever me or my brother did something and he found out about it. He used that tone a lot with me; we were never on very good terms.

"There's something we've been needing to tell you." My dad replied, face solemn.

"Are you sure? We could wait awhile longer." My mother whispered timidly to him, her eyes flicking between my dad and me.

"No. She's at the agreed age. It's time she as told." He said to her.

"Tell me what? What's going on?" I sent them both puzzled looks that borders on panicky.

They looked at each other then back at me. "We haven't exactly been completely truthful with you." My mother said.

"I'm going to get straight to the point, you're adopted." he said as if it were nothing. My dad was never one to beat around the bush.

It took me awhile to digest what I just heard. I simply couldn't believe it. I was half expecting one of them to speak up and say it was all a joke.

"What?" was all I could manage.

"No one knows except you and us. Not even your brother was told." My dad explained.

"I don't understand. Why are you telling me this now?" I asked still bewildered.

"You have a license and a car. Everything you'll need is in the Explorer. I would suggest you call your friends before you leave tomorrow." My mother said, deflecting my question with ease.

"What do you mean?" I asked even more confused, if that was even possible.

"It was part of an agreement made a long time ago. You must leave in the morning. Now, go get ready, you won't be coming back; ever." He said flatly.

As I walked up the stairs the man I was knew as my dad said "And don't tell anyone anything about this. Just make up something." I could tell they were completely serious. The way they relayed the information in a completely composed manner and the way they looked at me when they spoke told me how serious they were. I climbed the stairs to my room to do as told with a heavy heart.

I continued up the stairs, tears forming in my eyes. How could the expect me to do this? I couldn't just leave. Where was I supposed to go? They made it clear that I was supposed to leave town, but I had nowhere to go to. All of the family I had was here in Alaska. How could they do this to me?

I composed myself enough to talk to the few friends I had over the phone, telling them my family was making me go on a trip and weren't letting me talk to anyone. It wasn't a total lie, but they still didn't understand. I never tried to explain what my parents did because most of the time I had no clue myself. This would just add to the tally.

I hung up the phone after the last call had been made and felt terrible. I was lying to the people who cared about me for people who could care less. It hurt me most though when I had to tell Jesse because he could tell I was lying. It hurt having to say one lie after another to try and convince him of the half-truth I told him that even I didn't want to believe. He had that uncanny ability to know whether a person was telling him the truth, and in this case, it was working against me, not helping in any manner.

I lay on my bed and stared at my ceiling trying to pretend nothing had happened. I wanted it all to be nightmare to wake up from. I cried myself to sleep that night only to be awoken by my parents to confirm everything that happened was real; I was leaving my family for good.

Before I left, the people I knew as my mom and dad said they would cover for me at school. I figured they would go with was that they were pulling me out for homeschooling. That was the threat they used to make sure I did well in school. I was sure this was they had wanted to do that for a long time, now they were finally getting the chance.

I knew I was going to have to leave soon enough and that stalling would only hurt me more, driving nails in deeper, but before I did I went by the school. There were several books in my locker I wanted, but most of all I wanted to say good bye to the one place that felt anything like home.

On my way out of the main building I walked past the music hall where I had spent most of my free time improving and writing my own creations. As I walked on, trying to leave before anyone noticed me, my teacher, or one of them at least, walked out of the music hall, forcing me to stop and face him.

"Morning Mr. Pennington." I said politely, trying to keep back the few tears that threatened to surface.

"How are you Forrester?" he asked using my last name. He had given up long ago trying to pronounce my first name correctly,and instead settled with my last.

"I'll admit I've been better. I'm sorry I won't be in class anymore." I said.

"Don't tell me you're dropping. You're doing so well." He said shooting me shocked and disappointed look that assured me at leat one person missing me in my soon-to-be absence.

"I can't really explain, but I won't be coming to school anymore." I said as several tears fell.

"What's going on? Are your parents pulling you out? You know you can tell me anything." He asked concerned. He was like the father the choir wish they had; at least I did.

I looked into his eyes and knew he would understand. I knew he would try to comfort and care for me like his own child. And in any other circumstance where I could tell him the truth, he'd do a lot more than that. He would jump down my foster parents' throats for making me leave for no reason, and not worry about what they said in response. His military background had helped with that.

I knew he was like this because he had already done so many times before when my life was going down the drain. He was the first person I told about my parents' ridiculous demand of A's and the threat of homeschooling. He sat with me and listened as I cried about the whole matter and told me it was going to be okay.

The only problem now was that this time was different. I had been told not tell anyone, and I didn't know whether or not to tell him the truth despit what my "parents" had said. I had already come this far and I wasn't about to get him or me into anymore trouble than I had already bargained for.

"I can't tell you. I want to, but I…" I couldn't finish my sentence. The tears falling from my eyes wouldn't let me. Before I knew it he had me in a hug and began rubbing my back in a soothing motion.

"I understand." He said. I pulled away and looked into his eyes again.

"I promise I'll come back, and when I do I'll tell you everything." I replied.

"I know you will. You've never lied to me before, and I know you won't start now. I'll be waiting for you." He said and hugged me one last time. I saw the tears in his eyes. He always tried not to cry when someone else needed him to lean on, but this was a special case. I was going to miss him, and it was going to be the same for him. I only wished I didn't have to leave.

"I'm sorry P-Ton, but I have to go now before someone else sees me." I said pulling away. He released me hesitantly and gave me one last look before going back to his job. "I promise I'll be back." I said one last time to no one in particular and hurried off before I lost my composure. The hurt in his eyes was far worse than anything I had ever seen in my life. I could only pray that I would be able to keep my promise.

* * *

For the next two weeks I traveled from my Alaskan home and went to the lower forty eight. Crossing the border was the most interesting though. To my surprise my parents had created a false I.D. for me saying I was eighteen meaning I was able to be on my own. I still got several questioning looks from the guards since I didn't look or act like I was eighteen, but the false birth certificate they had packed cleared the way for me.

I was actually surprised at the things that were packed in the car. There was a duffel bag full of clothes that included several leather jackets and chaps that I had never seen before and heavy winter gear. They had also packed my bow and arrows and several thousand dollars. It made me wonder what they thought I would be doing.

After getting through Canada into Montana I started to go to the east coast. I wanted to be as far away from my "parents" as possible and I figured I would start with this. I didn't know what else to do. I had always wanted to travel more and I was finally getting the chance to. That didn't make everything better, but I had to try to find something positive somewhere in this mess.

It wasn't too long before I found myself on the east coast in some random town in North Carolina. I had stopped paying attention to town names after the first two days when they just kept reminding me of how far from home I was. I drove around not knowing what I was looking for, but I knew I'd find it; whatever that was. The whole time I drove, I couldn't stop thinking, what could I possibly expect to find here?

I stopped the car in the parking lot in front of a small landing strip. I didn't know what else to do. I scanned the area for the sake of something to do when a broad billboard sign caught my attention. It proclaimed the words: _Dan's Flying Service. Take you anywhere, anytime._ At the moment that sounded rather appealing.

I drove around to the front of the main hangar and went inside to see if this Dan guy was around. There were several pilots standing around talking and I asked if they knew where Dan was.

"Sorry kid. You just missed him. He should be back in an hour or so." One of them answered.

"No he's not." Came a deep voice from behind me. I turned to see a man, about late twenties with short messy brown hair, walking into the hangar. "My battery just died, so I'm stuck here unless one of you has a set of jumper cables. Was someone looking for me?" he asked.

"That would me." I said waving my hand at him.

"Come on over here and talk to me." He said walking out towards one of the planes. He stopped and leaned against the one that I assumed was his and said, "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm not really sure. I've been traveling for awhile and your sign caught my attention." I said nervously.

He looked at me strangely and asked, "So what exactly do you want me to do?"

"I hadn't really thought much beyond that. I don't really care where I go at this point. Anywhere but here would do just fine." I said.

"Well that doesn't give me a whole lot to go on kid. I'll tell you what. I was about to head for lunch when my car died. What do you say to talking about it over lunch? My treat, of course." He added.

I didn't see any harm in it, so I let him drive to a local diner that he said made the best hamburgers in town.

"Okay kid, why are you trying to get so far away from home?" I was taken slightly aback by his question. Nobody else had ever asked that.

"What makes you think I'm running from home?" I argued, trying to mask my shock.

"You're what, sixteen? Maybe seventeen? You want to fly far away in any random direction, and you have Alaskan license plates. That screams runaway." He deduced. I had to admit he was very observant. Most people didn't give those signs a second glance.

"I'm not running away from home." I said simply. He let out a long sigh and tried again.

"Okay, I guess we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Dan. What about you?"

I didn't know whether or not to tell him my real name. For all I knew he was going to take my name, and after trying to search it call up my "parents" only to be told off more than likely. "Jaden" I finally replied aloud.

"Okay, Jaden, why are you here?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked wondering where he was going with this.

"Why this town? You could have gone anywhere but decided to come here. Why?"

"I don't know" I said meekly. I honestly had no clue why I had come here. I had just been driving anywhere not really caring where I went. I didn't think I would ever have to explain myself to anyone.

"I know that's a load of BS. Tell the truth." He said as a father would to a kid who didn't want to tell a big secret.

"I honestly don't know. I've just been traveling, okay? I didn't really plan anything." I said defensively.

"Most runaways don't." he said.

"Will you stop calling me that! I didn't runaway!" I said raising my voice, something I rarely did. I turned away from him not wanting him to see the tear that rolled down my face.

"Okay kid. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to get you worked up. It's a fatherly habit of mine." He apologized.

"You have kids?" I asked trying to change the subject slightly.

"Two. One's ten and the other one is seven, and even though they aren't really mine, I still love them. My wife wanted kids but didn't want to go through all the pain for it. She had a soft spot for orphans anyway since she was one to begin with, so it all worked out." He explained. This tidbit caught my attention, driving my mind in a new direction.

"Would you ever give up your children if you had to?" I asked. I knew it would sound odd, but I had the burning need to know if all parents were like mine.

"What do you mean? Why do you ask?" he asked perplexed.

"If you made an agreement to give up your children when they reached a certain age would you give them up?" I asked trying to be clearer.

"I could never give up my children. I love them too much. Even if I did make that kind of agreement I would fight to keep them. What kind of question is that anyway?" he asked again.

"Just wild curiosity." I said trying to cover up.

"Is that what happened to you, Jaden?" he asked, and instantly I could feel the anger welling up inside me. Anger for being forced to run and at the fact that he figured it out so easily. The last part shouldn't have surprised me so much, but that didn't change how I felt about it.

"I don't think that's any of your business." I said coldly.

"It is if you plan on having me fly you anywhere."

"Maybe I don't. Maybe I'll just ask someone else who isn't so nosy about other people's lives." I said getting worked up again.

"I don't even know why I bothered trying to be nice with you. It's obvious you're just a spoiled little brat." He said averting his gaze in an irritated manner.

The last comment pushed me over the edge. I had never been called a brat before. I was always well behaved, did as told, and never said word against anything anyone said. I was far too timid to do anything else. I had never raised my voice to an adult like I had done or like I was about to do. "You don't know what you're talking about, so just shut the hell up! I was not raised to be a spoiled brat, and I certainly wasn't raised to take crap like this from someone like you!"

The words were out of my mouth before I could consider them. I was shocked, and for the remainder of the drive we both remained silent, both of us staring out the windshield into the perfectly blue sky tinted with light.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So here's chapter 2. I am requesting at least one review for this chapter before I post chapter 3. I just want to know what you guys think and whether or not I should continue the story.**

**Chapter 2**

We went inside the diner, and slid into separate red vinyl booths. I stared down at the scuffed tabletop, my back to him in quiet defiance. Neither of us seemed to want to talk to the other. He thought I was a runaway all because I wouldn't answer his questions and I thought…well I don't know what I thought of him. The first thought that came to mind was someone who didn't understand anything. This I figured was at least partially my fault, since I had been a bit elusive about the whole thing.

It was only a matter of time before one of us made the first move at communication and I figured it might as well be me. "I'm sorry." I said apologetically over my shoulder.

"I thought you weren't going to talk to someone like me." He replied.

"I didn't mean that. My mouth engaged before my brain did." I said.

"I may have crossed the line a bit calling you a brat, but you were acting snotty back there." He said. In one swift move reminiscent of cheesy action movies, he rose, taking one step before sliding in across from me, coming to rest with his right arm across the top backing of his side of the booth. I had to admit he may have been right.

"I just didn't want to talk about it and I was tired of you thinking I was a runaway." I replied, shoulders relaxing a fraction of an inch.

"Then what would you call what you are doing?" he asked trying to prove his point.

"I didn't run. I was told to leave." I admitted sadly, fingering the edge of the table absently.

"What do you mean?" he asked, obviously intrigued.

"Again, I can't talk about it. I was told not to." I said remembering what my foster dad had said.

"I don't think whoever told you not to tell has any right to tell you what to do. They already threw you out. And how are they supposed know exactly? They're in Alaska and you're on the east coast. Unless they have telepathy and mind reading abilities they never told you about, I think you're safe." He easily reasoned, staring at me as he spoke.

"Why do you care so much? It doesn't really matter why I left at this point, so why bother trying to figure it out?" I bit my lip, tensing up again.

"It was obviously important to you at one point." He queried again, frowning this time.

"Well wouldn't it be important to you if the people you thought were your parents kicked you out and told you not tell anyone why? I stopped trying to figure it out after two days." I said sighing.

"Are you eighteen or emancipated?" I shook my head no. "Well, then they do have some level of obligation to you." He said as if trying to find some kind of way to get me home.

"I was about to start my junior year. I don't even know what they did about school." I said noticing Dan had started to peer behind me, his expression darkening. "Were you even listening?" I asked annoyed that he wasn't paying attention.

"Look" he said pointing behind me. I turned to see a T.V. with my face on the news. As typical of any restaurant, I couldn't really understand what the person was saying, but the title Alaskan Runaway below my face gave me a pretty good idea. "You've gotta be kidding me." I said thinking my life couldn't get any worse.

"You know what; I don't think I'm in the mood for lunch anyhow. Let's skip lunch and get out of here before someone notices." Dan said and began to hurry me out the door.

Dan's reaction wasn't exactly what I imagined it would be. The whole time he had thought I was a runaway and newsflash that had confirmed it should have been enough to turn me in, but instead he practically agreed to fly me anywhere. Could this guy get any stranger?

He hurried me into the car and began driving back toward the hangar. "I don't believe this." I whispered to myself, this being the only thing I could think of saying at the moment.

"I do believe what you said back there. I don't know what those people have planned, but whatever it is it's pretty screwy." He turned to the right, the hanger coming into view.

"You mean that?" I asked surprised.

"Don't sound so astonished. I can tell you were being honest back there."

"So, what happens now?" I asked, looking over at him.

"I don't know. The father in me just wants to fix this by giving your parents a piece of my mind, but it also doesn't want to put you back in that house if they're going to do something like this again." He said raking his fingers through his hair. "It won't be too long before someone in this town notices these plates and calls it in." he thought aloud, pursing his lips in thought.

"I have a friend in Rhode Island I could stay with. You could fly me up there." I suggested.

"If you had a friend there then why did you come here?" he asked, looking unimpressed with my apparent lack of common sense.

"She was being transferred at the time when I left and she said she wouldn't be moved in for several weeks. She should be settled by now." I explained, feeling like an idiot myself.

"I don't like it very much, but it's better than nothing. We'll leave this afternoon." He said after thinking it over for a minute.

"That soon?" I asked, surprised he could get it done that quickly.

"Don't look so surprised, I just have to lay in my flight plan. It shouldn't take long to get clearance." He said as he pulled up in front of the hangar.

"Take your stuff to the plane. I'll be there in a few minutes to help." He said and walked inside, presumably to do as he said. I grabbed the bag from the back of the car and debated whether or not to grab my bow. I didn't even know why they decided to give it to me. I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring it along. If I didn't need it I could always sell it in Rhode Island.

After hauling everything to Dan's plane I waited several minutes for him to come outside. "It's all taken care of. Let me prep the plane and we can leave." He said grabbing my duffel and throwing it into one of the storage compartments in the back of his plane with ease. He grabbed the bow case next, giving me a strange look as he did, and put it in with the duffel.

He went about preparing the plane for departure while I waited inside. After about ten minutes or so he revved the engine and got into the pilot seat. He put on his headset and motioned for me to put on the other set. "Testing one, two, three. Can you hear me okay?" he said into the mike.

"Loud and clear." I responded.

"We're gonna have to make a stop along the way. This plane simply doesn't have the fuel capacity to make it all the way." He mused aloud, looking over his instruments.

"That's okay; I just need to get there." I said. I had already figured from the plane's size that it wouldn't be able to make it. It was just one of those little Cessna planes that I had seen a lot of bush pilots fly around Alaska. A short while later we were in the air and gaining altitude.

"So, tell me about this friend of yours." Dan questioned after several minutes of awkward silence.

"We've been friends for several years now. She just turned seventeen before her dad got transferred. He's in the Airforce so they get moved around a lot. The longest they ever stayed in one spot was while they lived in Alaska." I explained to help pass the time.

"Are you sure her family will just welcome you in on such short notice like this?" he asked skeptically.

"They've done it before. Obviously the circumstances were different, but they've never turned me away in the past." I explained fidgeting nervously. I didn't really want to say much more beyond that. The truth was that I spent more time at her house and Jesse's than I did at home. They're parents never gave me judgmental glares every time I walked in the house like mine did.

"Let's hope they'll still be inviting after that news bulletin." I barely heard him say. For some reason I felt tired all of a sudden.

"Get some sleep kid. You look like you could use it." He said in a fatherly manner. I opened my mouth to protest, but with one look from him I decided against it. I leaned back in my chair and dozed off to what I hoped would be a good sleep.

* * *

_It was dark in this realm of sleep. All around me was nothing but black which made it even more depressing. I assumed this was just another one of those dreamless sleeps I was going to have to get through until someone or something appeared in the middle of the darkness._

_As it got closer I could tell that it was a person dressed in a long, flowing white robe. "Who are you?" I asked the unfamiliar figure. _

"_That will come later." The figure murmured __her voice soft and reminiscent of__tinkling music. _

"_Why are you here then?" I asked hoping it would answer this question._

"_You have a difficult journey ahead of you. That is, if you want to know who you really are." She said. _

"_What are you talking about?" I asked perplexed. "As you grow older it will become clearer. Every so often you will be challenged. Each time will prepare you to make the ultimate sacrifice for knowledge." She answered cryptically. _

"_Do I even have a choice?" I asked. _

"_You may desire to continue with your life in ignorance of who you are and your ultimate purpose, or you may desire to seek the answer." She replied. "The choice is yours and none others."_

"_What if I decide I don't want to continue on this journey?"_

"_I am certain you can guess the answer to that question." She responded. That was true. I could either do it or not; there was the option of turning back after whatever she was talking about had begun. _

"_Do you even dare try?" she challenged. "Or will you continue on the alternate course of action available to you as any mortal?" If any of this was true, then there was a chance I could find my real family and find out why they gave me up. _

"_I will try." I answered solemnly. _

"_Then let it begin." She said simply, fading out of view and disappearing along with my dream. _

* * *

Everything began to shake violently and someone began to call out my name. I woke completely seconds later and realized that the shaking was coming from the plane flying through a storm. "Jaden, wake up!" he yelled again.

"What's going on?" I yelled over the storm and beeping plane.

"I don't know. This storm came in from nowhere! If we don't get out of here soon, we're gonna to be in some serious trouble." He replied, fumbling with the controls as he spoke.

The plane rattled under the storm's power as lightning came close to hitting us several times.

"Can't we call for help or something?" I asked trying to be somewhat helpful in an area I knew nothing about. "It's no use. I've already tried. The storm is interfering with all transmissions." He said. Minutes later we flew through the ominous clouds into a clear zone.

"It looks like we're clear for a minute. Let me try the transmission again." He said, reaching for the radio. As he did so, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck raise, and I had a bad feeling of what was about to happen. I reached out and tried to stop him, but it was too late. As he touched the radio, lightning struck the plane causing him to reel back from electric shock. He blacked out leaving the plane pilotless and me practically dead.

"Dan? Dan?!" I said nearly yelling at him. No answer came, but it was obvious he was still alive from the movement of his chest indicating he was still breathing. It didn't look like he was going to wake up any time soon, so it was up to me to make sure we didn't crash.

It was at that moment I was glad my uncle and brother were pilots. Throughout the time I had spent with them they would constantly talk about planes and their functions; they even made me do several simulations on one of the training simulators, so I had an idea of what I was doing. I switched controls from pilot to co-pilot as the plane took a nose-dive and tried to pull the nose up of the descending plane. It didn't work very well though and the aircraft continued its dangerous descent. As we got closer to the ocean I was able to make out a land mass that looked somewhat like a small island. It looked as good of a landing spot as anything else at this moment, so I headed for it as best as I could.

My only problem now was slowing down. "Come on you piece of junk. Pull up." I ordered the plane. The nose came up slightly as it neared the island, and I started celebrating too soon. Something fell from one of the overhead compartments that had apparently opened during the storm and hit me in the head, forcing me into unconsciousness. Murky darkness consumed me, and I knew no more.


	3. Chapter 3

**_AN: Here's chapter three (finally). I don't know when chapter four will be ready, so it may be awhile before I update again. Once again reviews are always welcome, and thank you to those of you who did review!_****Chapter 3**

* * *

"_Jaden" I heard a familiar female voice say. "Jaden, wake up."_

_I slowly opened my eyes to the same darkness I had found myself in last time I had seen her. "What's going on?" I asked still dazed from the hit to my head._

"_Your journey has begun. Good luck to you, Jaden." She said and disappeared._

* * *

As I began to truly wake up I found myself lying on the ground in immense pain. The pain was expected after falling out of the sky. What wasn't expected was finding myself separated from the plane.

"Please tell me I did not fall out of a crashing plane." I muttered to myself as I tried to move ever so slightly to see if anything was broken. As far as I could tell nothing felt out of order, just really sore. I could feel several scratches on my arms and face, but other than that I felt fine.

I tried to sit up, which hurt more than I thought it would, and tried to see where I was. Thick, lush forest surrounded me as far as the eye could see. I had never seen most of these plants before in my life. The sounds of birds, flying insects and other animals made it feel more like a jungle than the woods I was familiar with back in Alaska. The only thing I didn't see was the plane or Dan.

"Dan" I thought aloud and began to look around franticly for my lost friend. Above the trees a faint trail of smoke could be seen leading to spot not too far away from where I was. "Hang on Dan" I said and forced myself to get up and look for him. My body screamed in pain at the effort, but I pushed past it. I had to reach Dan and make sure he had survived. Losing Jesse, Pennington and all my other friends was hard enough to deal with. I couldn't bear the thought of losing another friend.

As I came upon the plane the first thing I noticed was that half of it was missing; the tail was nowhere to be seen. "Dan?" I called. "Are you here?" I stood in silence, anxiously waiting for an answer.

"Kid? Is that you?" he answered weakly after several seconds. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding and rushed over to the cockpit to rescue him.

"I'm here. Are you alright?" I asked trying to find a safe way in. Dan's door had been crushed in and the hole in the back was out of the question with sharp pieces of metal pointing in every direction waiting to catch on to something.

"I'm stuck." Was all he said. That didn't really answer my question, but it was good enough for now. I ran to the other side of the plane to find where once had been the passenger side door was now a gaping hole; the door had been ripped off its hinges. I also noticed other marks on the plane that looked like something had scratched at it-something with very large claws. I didn't even want to think about how that had happened and crawled into the passenger seat to see how very stuck he was.

Thankfully he wasn't crushed inside. His seatbelt had simply been jammed during the crash. This made me wonder all the more how I had ended up outside the plane. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind for a later time and focused on trying to get him out. "Do you have a belt cutter?"

"Try checking one of the overheads. It should still be in there, hopefully." He said pointing to the overhead compartments. The one closest to me was already opened with all of its contents spilled on the floor or else where around the island. I didn't see a belt cutter among the few tools there and moved to the next one.

After giving it a few tugs it came open and spilled out several tools, one of them being the belt cutter I was looking for. I grabbed it and reached over to Dan's seatbelt, slicing it with ease. He pushed away the remnants of the belt and began to pull himself out of his seat. I moved out of the way and helped him crawl out of my side of the plane.

As soon as he was free I helped him to the nearest tree and gently lowered him to the ground. "Are you okay?" I questioned again hoping he would actually answer this time.

"I think so. I made it out without breaking anything, so I guess that's a good thing." He said relaxing against the tree's broad trunk. "How did you get out?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that I woke up back there." I said pointing back into the woods from where I had come.

"Are you trying to tell me you fell out of the plane? You're lucky to be alive!" Dan exclaimed rubbing his obviously sore neck and joints.

"We're both lucky, and it's not like I was trying to. It looks like something attacked the plane." I said motioning towards the large scratches in the plane. He looked over and nodded in agreement.

"You're right. No storm causes damage like that, but I've never heard of any animal that could do that either." He concluded. I tried to reason with myself that the plane had hit something that had torn the tail off and that was what had caused the incisions, but there was something about them that refused to let me believe that. They were too uniform to have been caused by rocks.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" I asked trying to think of something else at the moment.

"I don't know. I've never heard of any place like this near the states. This place reminds me of a rainforest." He observed.

"My thoughts exactly, but it's like you said. I've never heard of any place like this on the coast. None near where we were supposed to be anyway. This is all too weird." I said glancing around the clearing for any potentially dangerous animals that might have come to investigate.

"This may sound like an absurd question, but what happened to your shirt?" he asked when I had my back to him. I turned my head and looked at it as best I could and noticed several large rips in it. I didn't have any scratches on my back or any other injury to accompany them which did seem quite strange. It was almost as if something had tried grabbing me and failed.

"I hadn't even noticed that before." I mused. Dan didn't seem convinced, but that didn't matter right now. We had to find some way off this island. I may have had nothing to go back to, but he had a family that would be worried sick about him.

"I'm gonna take a look around and see what I can find. There might be someone here with a radio or phone that we could use." I suggested.

"You don't have a clue what's in there. For all you know there could be some vicious predators out there waiting for a meal like you to come along." He said trying to talk me out of it.

"Dan, I lived out in the middle of nowhere, and bears and moose were constant visitors that I had to deal with. Survival classes were a requirement for us in school. I know how to take care of myself." I tried convincing him. I could tell this wouldn't be easy to get him to let me go. He seemed to wrestle with the thought for awhile before making a decision.

"Be back in no more than an hour. I shouldn't even let you go that long by yourself, but you'll probably have an easier time getting around in there than me." He conceded, grimacing in pain as he attempted to shift around.

"Don't worry Dan. I'll be back before you know it." I reassured him and walked off in no particular direction. The hike wasn't all that bad to be honest. I was expecting it to be much more strenuous, but for the most part it was flat with only light amounts of brush obstructing my way. That was a big difference from what I was used to. Anytime I went through the woods back home I always had to be wary of Devil's Club, a plant with large pentagon shaped leaves that were completely covered in thorns, which always threatened to stab me.

The thought of home brought up old memories of hiking in the woods with Jesse. That was how we had met. We were in the same outdoor class and on the first day he had to come save me from a huge patch of Devil's Club I had been idiotic enough to attempt to go through while wearing clothing not nearly thick enough for that kind of brush. He was my knight in shining armor that day and for several years to come.

Pushing this thought aside before I began to tear up I thought about what Dan had said. He was right about one thing. There were probably worse things here than bears and moose. Then again, he was never nearly trampled by an angry mother moose when his dogs were barking at her and her baby. That was something I had no desire to ever relive. Either way, I had to see if there was anyone here that could help us. All of this made me feel like a modern day _Gilligan's Island_ only without the Gilligan to mess up everything.

After about half an hour or so of walking I could hear the sound of a river nearby. This reminded me that I hadn't had any water in very long time. I quickened my pace and came up to the river. It was about twelve feet wide and stretched several miles in both directions. Farther down the way I could see the water become rougher turning into dangerous rapids that if anyone were to fall into, they would quickly get sucked in. Making a mental note to avoid this, I got down on one knee and carefully bent over to take a drink. After sating my thirst I decided to head back. Dan was probably just as thirsty as I was.

"It's about time. Did you find anyone?" he asked hopeful.

"There's no sign of anyone, but I did find a river about three quarters of a mile that way if you think you can make it." I reported.

"I think so." He said and attempted to stand, even as he winced all the while. With a little help from me he was on his feet and walking slowly behind me. After carefully retracing my steps back to the river we arrived. As Dan drank I surveyed the length river to see if there was any safe place to cross. There was a trail of rocks not far from where I was that came up high enough out of the water to provide a safe enough way across.

"I'm gonna cross the river and explore some more. I'll be back in awhile." I told Dan.

"No, you're not. It's too dangerous. If you fall in what do you think will happen? I might not be able to get you out." He protested.

"Dan, I've done this before with more difficult paths than that. I'll be fine. You worry too much." I reassured him and walked towards the rocks.

"You know, I'm starting to think you Alaskans are insane. Has anyone ever told you that?" he called after me.

"Well, when you're trapped inside your house all winter long with just about nothing to do you get a lot of energy built up, so during the summer we release that energy. Trust me. I'm one of the sane ones. This is nothing compared to the things I've seen people do." I said as I got onto the first rock.

"What do you mean exactly?" Dan queried, looking not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

"I've seen people go out in shorts through three feet of snow when it's twenty degrees below or colder." I said jumping to the next rock. I didn't have to look at him to know that he had a shocked look on his face. I chuckled to myself at that thought and jumped to the next rock.

When I was about half way across I yelled back, "See, this is easy."

"Don't get so cocky." Dan yelled back.

"I'm not." I yelled over my shoulder. I turned back to make my next jump and that was when everything went from purely okay to one of those oopsy movements that will forever stand out to me. The rock I tried jumping to was slicker than I had anticipated which caused me to loose my footing and fall, tumbling through the air in unanticipated free fall and crashing into the wild river below. I screamed as the cold water encased me, dragging me down stream towards the rapids that I knew would be there. Every so often I would manage to surface to see Dan trying to reach me, but then the current would drag me back under.

I felt the pull of the river grow stronger as I went through what I knew were the rapids. Somehow I managed to get a hold of one of the protruding rocks and pull my head out of the water.

"Hold on!" I heard Dan yelling to me. That was easy for him to say. Now I knew how every damsel in distress felt whenever they were told to 'hold on'. It royally sucked. Even so, I hung on for dear life trying to keep my head out of the freezing current. I had survived this adventure so far, and I was not ready to die here.

My arms began to tire quickly making the strength of the current seem that much stronger. "Just hold on. I'll be right back." He called to me, disappearing out of view. It surprised me just how irritating it was to hear that a second time. If he said it one more time I was going to defy every law of nature and physics to jump from the river and strangle him.

I looked up trying to see where he had gone and found him running back with what looked like a vine. It was better than nothing I supposed, my mind drifting down more morbidly inclined possibilities.

"Grab on!" he urged as he tossed one end of it towards me. It floated down to me, and I lunged out with one hand. I managed to grab it on the first try and hung on with both hands as Dan began to pull on the vine, grunting all the way.

I was a little over a yard away from the river bank when all of a sudden the vine snapped. With nothing else to grab on to and Dan too far away to grab me I was swept up again by the rapids. I vaguely heard the cries Dan shouted as the water pulled me down.

I surfaced again to see the land and water cut off. That only meant one terrifying thing: a waterfall. I didn't want to give up now, but I didn't have much choice at this point. There was no way Dan would ever get to me in time and there was nothing else for me to grab onto. Black began to invade the edges of my vision from lack of oxygen. I could see the edge and waited for my eminent demise to come when something unexpected happened.

I felt something grab me around the waist and pull me away from the waterfall to the other side of the river. I was pulled up on the welcome, solid ground where I proceeded to cough up all the water I had unintentionally swallowed or inhaled.

"Are you alright?" I heard a distinctly female voice murmur as I finally regained my ability to breathe again. I turned ready to face the questioner when I froze. Staring down at me with a more than slightly concerned look gracing her face, I saw something that I never thought could have existed: a living robot. Before I knew what I was doing I began to run away in fear of this new discovery.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I ran as fast and hard as I could.

I wasn't even sure if what I had just seen was even real. Part of me was left in disbelief while the other half knew it was real; hallucinations didn't pull you out of rivers. I didn't even notice the foreign green scenery that blended together in an unintelligible blur until I came to a sheer cliff drop that stopped me instantaneously. It couldn't have been very far-off from where I had started though, since it was common knowledge that I had neither the strength nor the stamina to run that far.

Still damp and exhausted from my 'swim' in the river, I collapsed onto the ledge, overlooking the dense jungle down below me and making a conscious effort not to think too hard about certain matters at hand. But it was no use, and I found myself wondering what was going to happen next before I could stop myself.

What could I do? I had just left Dan alone in the jungle with whomever, or whatever it was that had saved me and any other dangers there might be. The same dangers that were still lurking, somewhere in the gloom of the jungle, just waiting for me when I was vulnerable. Like right now, I shivered.

"I have to find some place safer." I whispered out loud to no one in particular, forcing, no, willing my legs to pick me back up as I spoke these words in a sincere effort to make them come true. As if stating my dreams would help anything, I silently chided myself.

"It's too late for that, human." A sultry, female voice said from somewhere in the trees, coming from no specific pinpointed direction, causing me to jump and scan the surrounding foliage in something a bit more than a panicked disposition.

"Who's there? Show yourself." I snapped, raising my voice, still raw from the recent escapade in the river, to a dull roar.

"You actually have the audacity to order me to reveal myself?" The female voice fumed, clearly offended. "I shall make your death a slow painful one." She finished, the end coming out in a hiss.

"What do you mean my death? What did I do to make you want my death? I've never even met you before." I asked fearfully, my voice noticeably heightening a few octaves.

"Your death insures my survival." That simple answer was hardly pacifying me. "Your kind has caused mine to suffer," She continued, a smirk only too evident in her voice. "And now I shall repay the favor in kind."

"My…kind? What are you?" I simply had to ask, and had tried to make my voice sound as reasonably brave as possible, but the voice that came out of my throat was far from calm, it was the tone of a panicked wild animal, caught in a hunter's snare. Which was only too true, that was sure.

Moments later, a large reptilian creature emerged from the forest, alighting gracefully before landing within the sun's bright rays. She stood at least ten feet tall with her body from head to tail nearly four times that length. Standing on her haunches, she spread her wings to their full capacity, nearly as large as her full body length. Her emerald body sparkled in the sun, sending glitters dancing off her skin, and merely magnifying her already terrifying beauty. If looks could kill, I thought darkly, realizing quickly that it couldn't be anything other than a dragon. I gazed in horror as I watched her advance, all too ready to end me, watching her smirking mouth full of equally terrifying teeth widen horrifically.

As I ducked, trying to avoid the inevitable, and maybe extend my expiration date by a few moments, I could hear the sounds of a screaming animal coming closer, getting louder and louder. The next thing I heard was a loud crash that took me by surprise as something…big collided with the ground. At first I thought it was the she dragon, fed up by the pretense of aiming and firing her tail at me, but then I looked and realized, no, there was a new one, a new, dragon.

My insides plummeted with dread at the very sight.

This dragon was black and slightly smaller in size, but clearly what it lacked in that department, it made up for in muscle. I didn't know what to think of this new dragon, other than, of course, the intermit death threat coming closer, clocking down with every passing second, faster and faster. I couldn't tell whether it would save me or fight to see who got the first bite, but I could guess. And I wasn't liking it.

"Leave Isla. Find some other hunting ground. The girl is mine." He growled.

"Stand aside nameless. I found her first. She is rightfully mine." She growled in return, changing her stance so that she faced him head on, glaring viciously as if to dare him to contradict her.

"Over my dead body." The smirk he gave her showed no fear however, and her gaze immediately darkened, her teeth glinting maliciously in the sunlight.

"If you insist." She sighed, the thinly veiled threat giving way to action as she charged him with her deadly horns. Without pause, he immediately turned, taking hold of me in one of his massive claws non to gently and then ascending into the air currents, riding them skillfully as only an expert could. The sudden movement shook me, and I gasped before the sound turned into a scream, full of fear and panic.

She gave chase, breathing out deadly plumes of fire all the while. The terrifying part was that she had decent aim. If he hadn't been so quick and agile we would have burnt. The only thing I couldn't figure out was why he hadn't killed me already. Perhaps he wanted to eat in peace.

We flew higher and higher, the branches of trees below us melding together into a green carpet below. As we rose higher however, the air began to grow noticeably colder, giving way to stiff biting winds till we reached the top of a mountain. All around me, snow and ice covered the ground, obscuring even the slightest glimpse of brownish rock. I gasped in awe, but that was short lived. The dragon immediately dropped me into the freezing snow and went back to his fight, taking back off to meet the she dragon in mid air some ways out.

I picked myself out of the snow as best I could and felt myself begin to shake uncontrollably. My teeth chattered quickly and rapidly, the sound reminding me of a jack hammer pounding against concrete. My dampness and thin clothes didn't help any and it wasn't long before I could feel the tips of my fingers and toes begin to grow warm.

To me this meant one thing. Hypothermia was definitely kicking in. If I didn't get off this mountain soon…I didn't even want to think about that. I began rubbing my arms and legs in a feeble endeavor to warm myself. And just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, things began to get even stranger than they already were.

"Where is he?" a large light blue, and obviously native to this area, dragon asked urgently. This one was definitely the largest of them all and the miniature of him that followed only a few paces behind was far smaller than him, about my height. I looked out at the impending fight below to find that the black one and his foe were indeed missing from the picture. As if in answer to this question the both of them came shooting out of the tree canopy far below, green and black locked together in their fight.

"Kidril, go get help." The larger one ordered, gazing down at the fight before his eyes flickered to me and back. He took off moments later, with the obvious intent of stopping the fight before it could go any farther. The smaller one, Kidril it appeared, flew off in the opposite direction, disappearing quickly from view. I could only hope he wasn't bringing more dragons. I didn't know how much more I could handle at this rate.

One would never guess the amount of shock I was in though. I was so focused on trying to keep warm that nothing else completely registered in my mind. I watched absentmindedly as the three dragons fought. It was more like the black and green fighting and the ice trying to break them apart like a father scolding squabbling siblings.

Warmth began spreading throughout my body and under normal circumstances it would have been welcoming. My mind began slipping away, slipping down to embrace the warmth that was so obviously dangerous, but was too hard to fight when I had nothing left.

I crumbled to the ground, floating towards unconsciousness easily as the warmth enveloped me eagerly. I barely registered the shapes the hovered over me, becoming indistinct as they shouted at each other, my mind already too far away to care.

"How could you let this happen, Frost?! You were supposed to get her out of here!" The dark dragon shouted at the ice dragon, his breath coming out in an irate huff.

"I sent Kidril for help. It looked like you could use help yourself." The dragon, Frost defended, glancing sideways at the black one in a vaguely offended voice.

"It wouldn't have mattered what happened to me! If she dies Frost I swear…" But he never finished his sentence, instead choosing to let his voice die, instead letting the silence speak for itself.

"Look." Frost motioned in an obvious attempt to dissuade his friend's anger. In the distance Kidril could be seen coming, growing clearer with ever passing second, a pale white figure on his back.

It was when he finally got close enough to drop his passenger that he greeted them. "I brought him as fast as I could Father." Kidril apologized shortly, allowing the pale white figure to slide off his back easily.

"Good job, son." Frost acknowledged the younger dragon, nodding his head slightly in approval.

"What do you dragons want now?" the white figure irritably asked with more than a hint of agitation.

"We need your help." Frost declared. "She," He motioned to the unconscious girl, "Needs to be someplace, safe. Can you take her to Ta-Koro?" He finished, gazing at the figure restlessly in question.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place instead of dragging me out here and wasting my time and hers?" he said bending down to examine her more closely nonetheless.

"We had our own problems to deal with at the time!" The black dragon snapped furiously, his voice rising in response.

"Give it a rest!" Frost reprimanded him, shooting a deadly glare out of the corner of his eye. "Kopaka, will you help or not?"

Kopaka stood, answering curtly, "Of course. Can you get me back to the village fast enough?"

"I'll take him. You should get out of here before you end up like her." Frost suggested, glancing meaningfully at the dark dragon beside him.

"Fine, fine just hurry up. You're running out of time!" He urged as he left the icy region, his dark wings sparkling with icicles that were just beginning to grow.

"Alright Kopaka, hop on." Frost said, kneeling as low as possible in an obvious invitation to hop on. Kopaka gathered up her unconscious form before mounting Frost. He didn't completely trust the dragons, but if they wanted to save the human, he was willing to help. As soon as Kopaka had a tight hold on Frost they descended into the air, riding cold wind currents down to the earth below.

Within in a few minutes he landed, coming to a swift and precise halt directly in front of the village before allowing Kopaka to dismount.

"Be quick Kopaka, and give her our apologies." Frost called to the quickly disappearing toa. Kopaka, giving no indication he had heard, went swiftly through the village to the Kini-Nui. Setting it to go to Ta-Koro he stepped inside and waited for a few precious seconds before he was transported, his form melding away.

Once assured that he was there, Kopaka immediately left, going in search of his fire brother, feeling the hot muggy air surround him. He didn't have to look very far, finding the fire toa mere minutes away.

"Kopaka, what brings you…" he trailed off as soon as he saw the figure in his arms, curiosity piquing. "What is this?"

"She was attacked by dragons and nearly froze up on the mountain. She needs to stay here until she recovers." Kopaka explained, never one for details.

"Of course." Tahu nodded, frowning. "The healer's hut is vacant. She can stay there for now. How exactly did she get here?" He questioned, knowing he would have to pull anything he wanted to know out of his brother carefully.

"I'm not sure. I know about a much as you do. Perhaps when she wakes up you can ask her yourself." Kopaka suggested, giving the very subtle hint that he was done with the round of questioning and wished to be off.

"You're not staying?" Tahu knew the answer, but asked for politeness' sake, trying to keep a civil tone even though he knew the ice toa wasn't one for warm climates.

"No, Tahu. I'm going to see what I can find out from the dragons. I'm entrusting you with her." He said, quickly convening with the fire toa to hand the girl over as gently as possible.

"Very well. Good luck to you brother." Tahu murmured as Kopaka began to walk away, watching the ice toa with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"You shall need it more than I, brother." He threw over his shoulder. Tahu frowned, but knew all too well that his brother was right; he would need all the luck he could get to make it through this one if there was any indication.

* * *

**Here's the update everyone was waiting for. Let me just take the moment to say thankyou to all my loyal readers for sticking with me and my beta darkraven0 for putting up with me these past few months. You guys rock!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I awoke slowly, feeling warmth envelop my body. At first I thought that it was the same dangerous warmth from before, but when I felt the course fibers of what seemed to be a blanket, I relaxed. In that moment I believed it was all over, a terrible nightmare I was finally waking from. A drab stone ceiling came into view though, and almost immediately I remembered how far away from home I actually was. After some momentary confusion, feeling sturdy enough to make a closer inspection, I found myself in small hut-like structure made of grayish stone. The single room around me was fairly empty containing only a small desk and similarly miniature bed that felt like it had been made for someone half my size—I was laying more off the bed than actually on it.

Sitting up in confusion, I tried to get a better view of where I was. There were two windows and small door directly across from me, but all three were covered by a heavy cloth letting only minimal light in as a breeze of warm air brushed through them. It was only now that I realized how warm the air was, not unbearable, but definitely reminiscent of hot summers past.

I rose carefully and stepped through the make-shift door, only to find a crowd of people about half my size going about their daily business, all of which conveniently stopped to stare at me as I appeared, making me feel like a…well, a leper, what with all the staring. But, I thought as I stared back, equally unnerved, the term people was subjective.

They were all vaguely similar to the one whatever-it-was that I had seen in the woods, all except for their color and stature. The one from before had been blue and much taller. These...little people were all red with either gold or crimson faces that resembled masks more than anything else. And their combined staring was getting creepier and creepier by the minute.

I was frozen like a deer caught in headlights. I wanted to move, needed to get away. Budging in any direction possible was a nice thought right now, but I was too frozen with fear to do much of anything.

_If they had meant harm they would have done so by now_, I frantically reasoned. All they had ever done up until now was help me. So why was I so terrified?

I was finally mustering the courage to move when a firm hand came down on my shoulder, making me jump in surprise.

"Do not be afraid. We mean no harm, really," a husky, male voice spoke from behind me. I turned to see a taller version of the little people in front of me. I gasped involuntarily. "It's alright. You're safe here," he assured in a calm tone, but looked somewhat unsure himself, so that wasn't much to go on.

My brain refused to work. I knew I was supposed to say something here, anything, but the words became lodged somewhere in my throat, refusing to come out. I glanced from his hand to the onlookers and back to him in quick succession, finally managing the words, "I need to sit down." He seemed to have understood what I was saying though, and led me back inside the hut, guiding me towards the bed gently.

"Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

"I'm fine, I think. I just need a minute to process. A lot has happened today," I said exhaustedly, rubbing my temples.

"So I've heard," he agreed wryly. "Kopaka said you had been through quite an interesting time up on that mountain."

"Kopaka? Who is he? How did I get here anyways? The last thing I remember was being up on the mountain," I queried, pausing in my questioning long enough to shoot him an anxious glance.

"Kopaka is another toa like myself who brought you here from the mountain. He didn't say much, but that's not much different from normal." Rolling his eyes, the 'toa' stopped for a moment. "Now it's my turn. Who are you and why are you here? Humans tend to never venture this way," he said.

"The reason for that might be the fact we don't know it exists. It's not like your island is on a map," I somewhat irritably replied. "My name is Jaden, and as for why I'm here, it was accident. My friend and I were caught in a storm that wrecked our plane." Immediately I froze. "Wait a minute. Where's Dan? Was he found in the jungle?" I asked, finally remembering Dan. I felt bad for even forgetting about him in the first place.

"Toa Gali told us about what happened at the river. Your friend ran away. But don't worry, we'll find him," the 'toa' said in response to my despondent face.

"You keep saying the word toa? What's a toa, and who are you? You never told me," I queried.

"I am Toa Tahu. We Toa are the protectors of the matoran and the turaga," he explained.

"Matoran? Turaga? I don't understand. This place, these people, they shouldn't exist. None of this should exist. You're…well I don't know what exactly you are. Most people would call you robots or biomechanical or something but not…what am I even saying? None of that even matters. Dan is out there alone and lost. I have to find him," I said with as much resolve as possible and headed for the door.

"You can't go out there," Toa Tahu said placing himself between me and the door.

"Try to stop me. I will not leave my friend to die," I said, my tone raised, trying to slide past him even as he caught me in his strong grip and, as gently as possible, pushed me back, his facial expression serious.

"It's far too dangerous. If you go out there, you'll only become a target," he reasoned oddly calm.

"Do you honestly think he'll come to one of you? He ran before, and he'll do it again. I'm the only one he'll trust at this point, and you know that. I have to go."

"She is right, Tahu." An ancient voice spoke from behind Tahu. We both turned to stare at a stooped figure, this one different from any other I had seen before. His mask was long and distinguished looking instead of the smaller, more rounded version of the other…'matoran'. He carried a staff, and from the timber of his voice one would think he was much older than Tahu.

"Turaga Vakama, she can't go. The last thing needed in the jungle is another lost person. She will be more of a hindrance than a help," Tahu tried convincing the 'Turaga'.

"Lewa will be more than capable of watching over her, and I have no doubt she is competent of taking care of herself. She has made it this far without being killed," the 'Turaga' reminded him.

"With all due respect Turaga, that is only because the Toa have been saving her. She is not fit to be in the jungle," Toa Tahu argued, obviously irritated by the 'Turaga's' stance.

"I'm perfectly fit and more aware now than ever," I argued. "Whether you approve or not Tahu, I am going."

Tahu stood there a moment fuming over the situation before giving in. "If you insist on getting killed, then fine. I will take you to Le-koro, but don't expect me to come to your rescue when you get in trouble," He spat, steam nearly coming off his mask.

"I won't," I mock cheerfully replied.

We stood there giving each other equally terrifying glares before 'Turaga Vakama' sent us on our way. Tahu led me to a stone structure that he had mentioned as the Kini-Nui. He claimed it would transport us to Le-koro, but I was skeptical. It did not appear to be anything more than a massive stone structure. That was quickly amended when in a bright flash the scenery changed from that of stone to wood and foliage.

There was an additional number of what I assumed as 'matoran', except for the more than obvious fact that they were all emerald in color with matching bright green faces. It made me wonder just how many villages there were and how many different colored matoran inhabited them. But I broke out of my trance as Tahu began to walk away, meeting up with who I assumed was Toa Lewa, since he looked similar to Tahu height-wise. Color-wise he looked about the same as the matoran.

"Lewa, this is Jaden. She's asked to help with the search for another human."

"Are you sure? Many trouble-bads in the jungle. Not sure-safe for humans," Lewa warned, his garbled speech sounding strange to me. The way he worded his sentences was odd, incomplete.

"I've already tried convincing her otherwise. She insisted on being here," Tahu assured him, looking far more than disgruntled.

"Well then, let's quick-move. Plenty of jungle-searching to be doing," Lewa replied and motioned for me to follow him to a platform. He put two fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Moments later, a large creature resembling an overgrown hummingbird landed in front of us, its wings still beating.

"What is that?" I asked, eyeing the creature cautiously.

"A gukko bird. Ever-wind fly before?" he asked. It took me a minute to realize what he was asking.

"Not exactly like this," I answered shocked by what he was suggesting.

"No time to seek-find a different solution." he said, and before I could protest he lifted me up onto the buzzing animal's back. "Stay sharp, sun-soaring time," he instructed and after drawing two fan shaped swords out from his back, Lewa took off into the sky without a glance back. The bird-like creature jolted forwards and followed him with me clinging on for dear life as best I could. The bird twisted and turned through dense canopy, narrowly avoiding branches and various trees as it went. Slowly working up the courage to look down at the earth below me, I began to search for Dan even if it wasn't exactly how I planned on going about the whole thing. I had hoped to be on solid ground for this part of my mission, but there was no turning back now.

I slowly began to relax, feeling the way the bird moved beneath me. It wasn't so hard to learn how to predict the animal's movements as it was to stay on securely if I did so incorrectly. I actually began to enjoy the rush of adrenaline that accompanied the thrill as the bird darted through the trees. Now I understood why all the insane daredevils back home did what they did. I still thought they were nuts for it, but that didn't matter when this feeling was the result of the thrill-seeking.

Lost in my thoughts I stopped paying attention to what I was doing. And a moment was all it took. I looked ahead just in time to see a branch headed towards me. With no time to react, the branch hit me full in the chest, forcing the air from my lungs even as I freefell to the hard, unforgiving earth below. I grasped quickly at the passing branches and managed to hang onto one as the bird kept going without me. I watched as it flew on, seemingly clueless as to the loss of its passenger.

"Well this is just perfect. How do I-" I was cut off by the sound of the branch snapping. I supposed the force of grabbing the branch in mid-flight must have loosened the sturdiness of it. I looked around for anything to use but to no avail. There were no other branches within reach and any time I tried moving across the limb it would begin to make even louder snaps and cracks, hardly the most encouraging sounds I could have heard.

"Oh shit. Now what do I do?" I cursed as I looked frantically for some way down. That particular question was answered with the resounding crack of the bough breaking off, sending me hurtling towards the ground below. I screamed for a moment, but the sound died in my throat as something, someone caught me.

"Can't you stay out of trouble for ten minutes?" a familiar voice grumbled, the ground rapidly disappearing beneath me. Only slightly panicked at the current situation, I looked up to find myself in a large black, scaly hand.

"It's you again," was all I could think to say, my voice holding no malice.

"Someone has to play save the human," he said as he gently put me on my feet before landing. "Not that you make that hard or anything though."

"You mean you're not going to eat, kill, or otherwise maim me? But, that fight you had with that other dragon who was trying to kill me. I thought…"

"Is that all you humans can think of us as? Monsters?" he asked, obviously irritated as he rolled his eyes.

"Well, can you really blame me? The first one I met wanted me dead. How was I supposed to react to others?" I shot back, clear that I had to defend myself verbally.

"You didn't scream or run when you met Frost or his son," He pointed out evenly to me.

"I had enough on my plate as it was," I snapped back at the black dragon, who was looking more than slightly unimpressed. "I was terrified and trying to keep from freezing since you decided to throw me on a mountain of snow."

He winced at the mention of it before saying, "I couldn't think of anything else to do with you. I couldn't just leave you on the ground for Ilsa to get. You were at least slightly safer there."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm still confused. You and your friends didn't attack me, but she did with out provocation. Why?" I asked, questions dangling off the edge of my sentence with the last word.

"That is a long, complicated story that humans have long forgotten about. You would be wise to leave here as soon as possible," he replied simply and began to walk away, clearly having no interest in continuing the conversation with me.

"Wait," I called out, trying in vain to keep up with the long stride of the dragon in front of me. "How do you expect me to do that? Our plane was ripped in half. There's no way of repairing that. Not unless you happen to keep spare planes around that is."

"I do apologize for that. I hadn't planned on destroying it."

"What?! _You_ destroyed the plane?" I exclaimed. I shouldn't have been surprised. It made sense from the claw marks I had seen, but I didn't think he would have destroyed it.

"It was an accident. I was trying to save you, but Ilsa caught me," he explained.

"I guess I have you to thank for my torn clothing as well," I said remembering I was still wearing the same ripped shirt from before.

"Do you ever stop whining?" he turned and asked.

"I'm not whining, but it's been more than a little embarrassing to be walking around like this in front of a lot of people."

He gave a heavy sigh before saying, "Hold on." He grabbed me and began to fly up. I did my best to shorten my scream to a gasp, but I wasn't entirely successful. He flew to a cliff that I knew so well and dove down closer to the trees where I could make out an opening in the wall. He flew in and set me down on the cave floor after pulling in his wings with him.

Other than the light that poured in from where the front door was supposed to be, oddly enough the cave was lit by several glowing stones that lined the walls. The pale, blue yellow did not provide much luminosity, but it was enough to not run into a wall. Scanning the cave it was obvious how spacious it was. It was definitely wide enough to fit the dragon with his wings unfurled comfortably and more than tall enough to fit his friend Frost with several inches still to spare. Farther back the cave extended and curved into a corridor that led deeper into the mountain.

"Is this where you live?" I asked astonished.

"When I choose to, yes. Follow me," he ordered and walked deeper into the cavern, his back turned to me. I hesitated for a moment before I did as told, knowing full well that if I chose to I could leave right now and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. There was silence between us for several minutes as we continued on, our paths lit only by the small glowing stones. I didn't know how it was for him, but for me it was awkward and unsettling.

"So, did you carve this out yourself?" I asked trying to break the silence.

"No," he answered shortly.

"Oh, well, who did then?"

"My parents probably."

"Probably? Wouldn't you know if your parents did this?" I asked confused.

"No."

"Are you always this short in conversation?"

"Are you always this chatty?"

"Are you always this quiet?"

"As a matter of fact I am. Do you have a problem with that?" he growled.

I jumped back in fear at the sound of his voice and sight of those gleaming teeth in the dim light. "No. Quiet is fine," I said through staggered breath.

There was a slight pang of sadness in his eyes that I could barely make out in the dim light, but he turned away quickly as we continued through the tunnels and I dropped the subject. He didn't go much farther before stopping again outside the entrance of an adjoining room.

"Here's your stuff," he called, motioning with his head towards the duffel bag and bow case that I recognized all too well.

"You brought my stuff here? Why?" Fully perplexed, I stared curiously at the obviously undamaged knapsack.

"That doesn't matter. I'll, uh, wait for you at the entrance," he said nervously and disappeared quickly down the dark hallway leading back to the entrance.

After making sure he was gone I began to rifle through the bag looking for another set of clothes. After deftly locating a red t-shirt and a pair of worn blue jeans I changed quickly, feeling some comfort in the clean, un-ripped apparel.

As I went to put the torn clothing back in the bag I noticed the leather chaps and jacket. I thought for a moment whether or not I should wear them. I really didn't feel like going around in leather in the jungle, or anywhere else for that matter, but that sounded a whole lot more appealing than ruining any other items of my already limited selection of clothing.

I conceded to pulling on a pair of chaps and leaving the rest behind. It felt weird to walk around with the new leather squeaking with every stride, but it didn't take long to get used to it.

I followed the stone corridor back the way I had come and found him laying at the entrance with a solemn look on his face.

"Thank you…well, I never did get your name so it's kind of hard to thank you properly," I said awkwardly.

"I don't have a name," he answered obviously unbothered by the fact as he lounged easily.

I stood there dumbstruck for a moment before thinking of what to say next. "What do you mean? The others appear to have names. What makes you so different?"

"They had parents to give them a name. Mine died a long time ago. If they did give me a name they never told anyone."

"So why not give yourself a name? No one likes being called 'hey you' or 'nameless' their entire life," I suggested, remembering the previous encounter.

"It's not that simple. Dragons are not just some dumb animals as your legends seem to portray them. We have rules, a code of honor. It used to mean something, but now, after so many years in this condition, they've all forgotten. At least what's left of them that is."

"You know, you act as though this is my entire fault," I pointed out to him. "How am I supposed to know any of this stuff exists? Whatever history there was about dragons was probably passed on by word of mouth 'til it was forgotten. What is so difficult about naming?" I asked.

"Our code says that only a dragon's parents may name him. In their absence only a human may name them. Supposedly it was to keep pride down to a minimum." he explained. "Although I doubt that would have stopped any human or parent from giving them a grand name." he added darkly.

"I guess I can understand that," I admitted. "Is that why you saved me?"

"No," The nameless dragon replied, shaking his head. "It's another part of the code. We were not to hurt any human. We were to protect them and they were to do the same for us."

"What would a dragon need protection from? You're not exactly helpless," I pointed out to him, perplexed.

"One might think that," He replied vaguely, refusing to look at me as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"It might be easier if I just show you," he said sighing as he stood up. I followed him back through the cave's twisting halls, down another corridor, and into a room that was covered with paintings that looked like a timeline.

"This is the real history of dragons," the nameless one began. "In the beginning, humans and dragons lived out their life spans peacefully together.

"We dragons lived under a simple code: never harm a human, never tarnish your honor by carrying out wicked deeds whether they come from human or dragon source, and never, ever name yourself. The honor of naming is for parents and humans.

"After over a hundred years of prosperity, something happened to us, the dragons. A disease of some sort began to infect my people and diminished their numbers. One human felt great compassion for those dying and became the first Dragon Guardian.

"It is said that the Guardian traveled across all of known earth to find a cure. It took a great deal time, but a remedy was eventually created and the dragons were saved.

In gratitude, the dragon first cured pledged himself to the Guardian, creating a bond never seen before between the two races.

"Ten years later, war began plague our lands for the first time in known history. Dragons allied themselves with wicked humans, abandoning their code. During that time, the Guardian and her fellow dragon went out to stop them. In the ensuing struggle the Guardian was struck through the heart and therefore, died.

"The dragon that had so loyally bonded to the Guardian felt such pain. It is said that it was as if half his heart had been torn out. Filled with pain and despair the dragon wandered for several days until he met a wizard. His only wish was to be able to tear out half his heart to bring his companion back.

"From this part of the story onwards, it is up to the listener to decide if the story ends ill or well, given the circumstances that surrounded it." The dragon paused in his monologue to give me that tidbit before continuing onwards.

"The wizard watched as the dragon cried his tears and, grudgingly, granted his wish, though having no interest in his plight. Half of his heart was removed from his chest to give the Guardian new life. That same gift was then passed down to all dragons from that point onwards.

"There was a catch, however. If the human were to ever corrupt the heart, the dragon would be sentenced to an eternity in what you refer to as hell. If the dragon were to be the guilty one however, the both of them would end up in hell.

"But there were upsides to this bond. For humans who participated, they would not die unless their dragon did or if they were stabbed through the heart and otherwise decapitated. Anything else they could heal from.

"The dragons were not so lucky however, for they were far more vulnerable. There was one other weakness that was not found until a short time later.

"The dragon's heart that had been given to the human could not sustain him for long. A month later the Guardian died and the dragon followed behind. They were mourned far and wide, and in their honor a new society was created. They were people and dragons who joined forces to continue the first's work.

"Their symbol was one the first had always carried. This medallion," he said motioning to a necklace resting on a stone, "Supposedly belonged to the first Guardian and granted him abilities that helped him end the warring. From it, more were made and given to those who had proven themselves worthy of being Guardians.

"After that, history cuts off for many years until a dragon became careless. The dragon had been lost for a long time and after nearly starving to death, he killed a herd of sheep. When the farmer came to investigate and found the dragon, he spread the word that the dragons were dangerous. As superstitious as humans were, they believed him and the hunt for the dragons began.

"With help from several Guardians, the dragons were moved here for safety. There were plenty of animals for hunting and for years they thrived, but that was not to last.

"Some dragons became greedy and exhausted the food supply, and out of survival instincts, they turned on the others. Fearing for their lives, the Guardians fled with the remaining dragons, never to return.

"And that," Nameless finished heavily, "Is all I or anyone else knows on the matter."

I had been looking around at the paintings as he told the story, each detailed illustration telling a different part. The beginning when the years were prosperous, the first Guardian giving aid to the dragon, the Guardian's death and resurrection, the continuation of the society, the fleeing dragons, and then an unfinished drawing of a dragon that looked like its mouth was covered in blood.

The last one sent shivers down my spine. That was about how things were now.

"So this was what you meant," I breathed as I ran my hand along the wall. "Was it true about the medallion? Did it really give the Guardian special abilities?" I asked.

"No one really knows. No one ever tried to use it. At least, there's no record of it. Why?"

"I was just thinking. If it did, maybe it could help me find Dan." Saying the pilot's name reminded me of where I was at the moment, and what I still had to do. "Speaking of which, I need to get back. Lewa is probably wondering where I am and so is Dan. Can you help me?"

"I don't know." The dragon's voice was unsure, and I felt the need to persuade him strengthening as each moment passed.

"Please, help me. You're the only who can right now," I pleaded.

"Why should I? All you humans have ever done for me and my kind is cause pain. Why should help you at all?" he snapped, staring back at me evenly.

"Because I know you're better than the others out there. You still believe in this code where others have either given up or forgotten. Because, because…you're Yori Yoi."

"I'm what?" he questioned, taken aback slightly.

"You are Yori Yoi. I took Japanese for a year and they taught us about respect and yori yoi was something they said was good. At least, I think that was what they said. I was bad when it came to paying attention to some of those details, but I remember the words and what they meant. You're better than those like Ilsa. It only seemed like a proper name for you," I admitted. He seemed to think over what he had just heard as if trying to confirm it was real.

"There's not much I can do, but I will try. For now, you must stay here." I was about to protest when he silenced me. "It is too dangerous for you out there. If I am to be of any help I must be alone. Ilsa is out there waiting. If we both go, we'll just be painting targets on ourselves. I'll be back before sundown," he said and left the cave, leaving me standing there once again, feeling the all too familiar feeling of uselessness overcome me.

* * *

**AN: GAH!!! Sorry it took so long to update! I tried putting it up for the past several days, but the site wouldn't let me log in. Thanks to all of you have stuck around so far. You guys are awesome!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

After nearly an hour of sitting and waiting by the entrance of the cave I was ready to finally do something. Just sitting there made me feel useless. At least if I was exploring the caves, I figured I wouldn't feel so bad.

I didn't know how many of the tunnels I ended up traveling. I'd lost track of time after the first half hour or so and didn't care. I had to keep my mind on anything else but the time. Time just seemed to make me anxious.

After exploring several of the tunnels and finding nothing but a series empty rooms that had probably been the homes for several dragons long ago, I found myself back in the room I had dubbed the "story room".

Running my hand across several of the drawings I thought about what Yori Yoi must have been through the past several years. Losing his parents before even being given a name must have been difficult for him. Judging from the previous encounter with Ilsa, he must been considered an outcast by other dragons. All except for the ice dragon. What had he called him? Frost?

It made me wonder what it was Frost saw in him. I never considered Yori Yoi to be of bad character, but why had Frost befriended him while others seemed to condemn him? Maybe Frost had been a friend of Yori Yoi's parents. He was obviously older if he already had a son. Not that I knew anything about dragons or when an appropriate age for children was for them, but surely there had to be some kind of limit.

That was when I came back to the pendant. There had to be some kind of truth behind the legend. If it didn't have some kind of power, why would the guardians who had brought the dragons here have gone through that trouble of bringing back an apparently useless relic?

I bent down and grabbed the pendant from its resting place. The pendant was made of six colored stones arranged in the order of a black dragon's head with a small blue eye surrounded by a red background. Around this was gold with small stones of white, brown, green, and another black. It was attached to a leather strap which seemed out of place next to all the finery.

As I cradled the pendant in my palm, I began to feel strange. A faintly familiar sensation came over me as I held it; like an imprint that never goes away. My head began to throb and a voice, alien yet familiar, called to me.

"_Free me,"_ it whispered, echoing through the confines of my mind. Something didn't feel right. This voice, its intentions, they felt wrong, they felt evil. The pain grew stronger as I fought to keep the voice at bay.

"What is this? What's happening?" I thought aloud. I doubled over as the pain increased even more, on the verge of crying out. Darkness began to tug on the corners of my vision, pulling me further to where I didn't want to go. It was now that I regretted my curiosity. I couldn't be content with just waiting patiently like a good little girl. I just had to explore. The pain subsided as I fell into darkness and waited for whatever this voice had in store for me.

* * *

"Put me down! What do you want from me?!"

The darkness had begun to dissipate from my vision as I heard the yells of a man. As my vision cleared, I found myself still in the story room, a crumpled heap on the floor. I didn't know what I'd find when I awoke. But the pain, the voice, it all came back at once. I heard more screams that sounded like they were from the entrance of the cave.

That was when one thought entered my mind: Dan.

I picked myself up, and after stowing the medallion in my pocket, I ran to the entrance, all things forgotten. The moment I saw him, I ran to Dan and embraced him as tight as I could. "Dan, I'm so glad you're alright!" I exclaimed.

It took him a moment to realize that it was really me hugging him before he returned the embrace. "Jaden? Thank heavens you're alright. I thought you were…I thought I had lost you for good. What happened? How did you end up here?" he questioned pulling away.

"It's a bit of a long story. After we were separated I ran into some trouble, but Yori Yoi helped me. He's the one that brought you here," I explained, briefing a look thankfully at the dragon.

"This brute is a friend?" Dan muttered questionably, glaring at Yori Yoi with quiet intensity.

"Brute?" Yori Yoi snorted. "Well, that's the worst gratitude I've ever heard."

"Friends don't normally grab each other and fly them through the sky upside down!" Dan retorted heatedly.

"Both of you let it go. The important thing is that we're both safe." I interjected, trying to lessen the tension.

They both looked at each other uneasily for a moment before coming to a quiet consensus. "You're right, Jaden. Now we just have to figure out how to get back home." Dan agreed.

"I don't know what chance we have of that, if any. The plane was destroyed when Yori Yoi tried to save us," I explained carefully, treading on thin ice.

"You destroyed my plane?" Dan asked, blinking incredulously at the black dragon.

"I would prefer not to explain that again. It was an accident," Yori Yoi stiffly replied.

"Will you both simmer down? Sheesh, one minute you're friends and the next you're trying to pick a fight." I pointed out.

"Well excuse me for reacting to the fact that _my_ plane was destroyed along with any hope of getting off this crazy island," Dan snapped.

"Air isn't the only way off this island. There's always the chance of getting off by raft or some other means. We just have to figure out the best way," I rationalized.

"That makes sense, but I suggest you two wait until morning before you try. The jungle is a dangerous place at night," Yori Yoi suggested.

"All right, dragon. We'll stay here." Dan grumbled, grudgingly agreeing.

"The name is Yori Yoi, not dragon," he said, sticking his face in Dan's and curling his lip just enough to effectively glimpse some of the teeth inside.

"All right, Yori Yoi." Dan hastily replied. "Now that that has been settled, I think we should all get some sleep. It's been a long day for some of us."

"But I'm still curious about what happened to you. Where did you go? What did you do?" I pointed out.

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Right now we could both use some rest. You look terrible." Dan said, looking over me critically.

"Well that's a nice thing to say." I sniffed, feeling affronted.

"He's right, Jaden. Are you feeling okay? You didn't look that bad when I left," Yori Yoi asked, apparently concerned.

"I feel fine. Maybe I just need some sleep. It has been a long day," I lied.

"Yes, well, flying in to trees can do that to a person," Yori Yoi agreed gamely.

"Flying? In to trees? Jaden, do I want to know what you've been up to?" Dan questioned.

"Probably not," I said, figuring it would worry him too much if I told him the whole story.

"Okay then, follow me. I'll show you where you can sleep," Yori Yoi said and led us down several tunnels I had not explored earlier in the day to a large cavern where he promptly laid down in the middle.

"It's so warm in here," I noted as I followed him in.

"This cavern sits between the heating vents of Onu-Koro and the volcano. It's the best spot in the caves," Yori Yoi explained.

"I didn't realize we were so close to the volcano I thought it was further away than this." I blinked, feeling a bit disoriented.

"These tunnels stretch far and wide through the mountain. If you go just a bit further, you'll have Onu-Koro directly beneath your feet."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous for the tunnel to go over the roof of a village? What if something happens and it collapses? What happens to these caves?" I queried.

"I get a hole in one of my tunnels and stay away from it. Trust me, you are safe here," he assured, calmly overriding my objections.

I wasn't scared about the stability of the tunnels. I figured since he had lived in them for years they'd have to have been well built. I was worried that if the village below wasn't as stable, the entire section of his home would collapse he could get hurt. I guess I shouldn't have been so worried. These people have been here for a long time. They must have known what they were doing when they built their villages.

"I suppose so." I agreed grudgingly, taking one last sweeping glance around the chamber.

"Well, let's find a good piece of rock and go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow," Dan said, walking to one of the far corners and laying down in an obvious ploy to get me to go to sleep

"I should do the same. Thank you, Yori Yoi. You brought back my only family. I don't know how to repay you." I thanked him almost reverently.

"You gave me an identity. I could never ask for more. For the first time since I was born, you've given me hope." He gruffly replied, obviously not entirely comfortable with this heart-to-heart we were having.

"Hope? Hope for what?" I questioned curiously, pushing further.

"That maybe there is something to live for out there. If there are humans like you out there, maybe this world is worth being a part of."

I took in what he said, momentarily stunned. I had never been regarded so highly before. It made me feel special for once. It was like the time Dan had helped me escape, made me feel like his own child. I felt wanted. It was something I hadn't had in a long time.

"Your welcome, I think. Well, off to bed," I hastily replied and picked out my own corner of the cavern falling into a restless sleep.

* * *

As I woke up, I could feel my head resting on something other than hard stone. When I was finally awake enough to look, I found that it was a scaly leg that I was sleeping on. I didn't remember falling asleep anywhere near Yori Yoi. I gave him a shove to wake him up.

"What is it? Is something wrong Jaden?" he asked startled from his slumber.

"Did I move over in the night or was it you?" I questioned.

"You looked cold, and you began to have a nightmare. I didn't want you to wake Dan or yourself," he said with a yawn.

"Did I say anything?"

"It was all pretty incoherent, but something was scaring you. You kept saying for someone to go away. You looked like you were about to cry, but you finally went back to sleep," he replied.

"Was there a name of the person?"

"Not that I could tell. Why? Don't you remember having the dream?" he asked.

"It's a little vague, but I never said a name. I just thought maybe I said it out loud. I had a friend once who talked in her sleep. She never knew the names of the people, but she always said them aloud. I just thought maybe I had said something. Is it morning yet?" I asked changing the subject abruptly.

"The room feels warmer. I'd say the sun's only been up for a couple hours," he answered getting up.

"Really? The room doesn't feel any different," I said.

"I've lived here longer than you, and how would you be able to tell? You were cold in a very warm room last night." He calmly replied, unruffled by my questions.

"That's because I'm part lizard," I joked cheerfully.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yori Yoi asked me, looking puzzled as he spoke.

"It's a joke. Everyone calls me cold blooded since I always freeze," I explained.

"I see. Maybe you should have stayed in Ta-Koro. Go wake up your friend. I'll meet you at the entrance," he said and lumbered out of the chamber.

I smirked, shaking my head and went to wake up Dan. "Hey, sleepy head, time to wake up," I said giving him a gentle shake.

He groaned something incomprehensible before groggily opening his eyes. "Morning already? That was fast," he yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"I take it you didn't sleep very well?"

"It's a bit difficult when sleeping in a cave with nothing but the stone floor," he groaned rubbing his neck.

"I'd agree, but I don't really mind. I sleep on the ground a lot, so I'm used to it."

"Did I mention that you Alaskans are crazy?" he said with a puzzling stare.

"Yeah, you mentioned that awhile back," I said with a smile.

"Just checking," he said getting up.

With a little help from me he was on his feet and we headed back to the entrance to meet up with Yori Yoi. As we did, the sounds of drums could be head clearly.

"What's with the banging?" Dan questioned.

"Quiet! I need a minute to hear," Yori Yoi snapped.

We all stood there silently listening to the drumming. After awhile it was easy to make out some sort of pattern, like Morse code.

"This is bad," Yori Yoi breathed.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I questioned urgently, matching his volume in a whisper.

"It's Ta-Koro. It's been destroyed," Yori Yoi replied, looking just as shocked as I felt at the moment.

"What? Wait," I said, momentarily stunned. "How? I was just there. How could it be gone?"

"They say Rahkshi, the sons of Makuta, are responsible," he explained.

"Hold on. Time out and back up. What is a Makuta or a Rahkshi? And what is a Ta-Koro?" Dane questioned.

"Ta-Koro was the village I was taken to after we were separated. Still, what's a Makuta? And what is this about his sons destroying the village?" I asked, addressing the question to Yori Yoi.

"The matoran believe that their islands were created by a great spirit called Mata Nui. Makuta is Mata Nui's brother, the spirit of shadows. I always took them to be little more than stories, but stories don't destroy villages. His sons, the Rahkshi, are his seekers, and they'll destroy anything that gets in their way," Yori Yoi explained as best he could.

"What are they looking for? They couldn't possibly be interested in me or Dan could they?" I asked fearfully.

"No, Makuta would never take any interest in someone as low and unimportant as a pair of humans. No offense to you," he amended, looking apologetically at the pair of us.

"None taken," I brushed it off. "But if they weren't looking for us, then why did they destroy Ta-Koro?"

"There was mention of a Mask of Light. That must be what they are after. Apparently a pair of Ta-matoran left the village with the mask just before the attack. Supposedly they're somewhere in the forest, but I doubt they're still there if Lewa found them." Yori Yoi replied confidently.

"Was there something about Lewa finding them?"

"No, but news travels fast through the trees. More than likely they went up the mountains to the snow. They'll be safe there."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked.

"Hold on right there, young lady," Dan interrupted turning me to face him. "I just found you. You are not about to go traipsing around in the snow looking for trouble. You don't even have any kind of protection," he reasoned.

"He has a point, Jaden. Remember what happened last time you went out there?" Yori Yoi pointed out, the pair of them ganging up on me.

"You mean what happened when you threw me out there. Yes, I remember, but this time it's different. This time I have gear," I explained, justified.

"You do? What hat did you pull that out of?" Dan questioned doubtfully.

"When my parents packed my stuff, they packed in heavy duty winter gear. Pants, thermals, coat, mask, gloves, hat, the whole shebang."

"Now hang on just one minute," Yori Yoi interrupted. "What exactly do you expect to accomplish by doing this? These things destroyed an entire village. What could a little human like you do to stop them?"

"I…I don't know, but I can't just sit here and do nothing while the homes of people who helped me are being destroyed. Please Yori Yoi, help me," I pleaded.

The dragon took on a look of contemplation looking from me to Dan and back. I could tell what he was thinking. Should he help and have to deal with the commotion Dan would put up, or would he refuse and stop me from leaving?

He heaved a great sigh in a weary sort of way before saying, "Kid, you better have one heck of a plan."

* * *

**AN: Sorry this update took so long. I don't know how long it will be until the next one, but hopefully it won't be too long. Major thanks to my awesome beta who has continued to help me improve! I couldn't do this without ya!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

About ten minutes later, I was nearly finished getting my stuff on when Dan came up to lecture me again. "What exactly do you plan to do when you get up there?" he more or less demanded.

"Yori is trying to contact Frost to come and pick me up as soon as we get up the mountain. From there Frost will take me to the village," I explained.

"I still think this is a crazy idea," Dan grumbled. "What do you think you are trying to prove? We should be trying to get home not fight a battle that we have no part in. Why is this so important?"

"I already told you. They helped me, and if there's something I can do to repay them, I'm already on board." I replied defiantly, tensing as I did so, as if trying to validate my answer.

"But this is a dangerous way to do it. You could be hurt or worse. I can't let you do this." Dan shook his head.

I finally turned to him, my patience depleted. "Listen, Dan, You are not my father, so please stop trying. I've gotten this far without a decent one, and I don't need you trying to fill in the space. If you'll excuse me now, I have somewhere to go," I snapped, maybe a shade to coolly.

"I may not be your father, but if he was here he would-"

"No father ever wanted me!" I snapped. "Whoever my father was didn't care about me, and neither did the one that replaced him. I've given up wanting a father or any other kind of family since none have wanted me. I don't know what idea you have floating around in your head, but whatever it is, it needs to stop."

"The same could be said of you. You are barely sixteen years old, a child at best. You have no business going about trying to play hero. This is not our fight or our home. You don't even know these people, and yet you are willing to die for them. How does any of this make sense?" he questioned in the same tone I had used on him.

"And what happens when it does become a problem for us? Those things destroyed an entire village killing who knows how many people. Do you think they'll hesitate with us if they get the chance? These people have saved my life on more than one occasion, and I am not about to sit and hide in a cave while they're homes are destroyed," I fumed as I grabbed my bow.

I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm to stop me. "You are not going out there. I refuse to let you," he growled in a fatherly tone.

I pushed him aside ignoring him. "You have no say in the matter, Dan."

"Like hell I don't. You are my responsibility. I'd give you a good swat right now if you were one of my kids."

"Well I'm not one of your kids. I don't know what delusion you're living in, but I am not your responsibility. I am old enough to make my own decisions."

"What do you know of being on your own or making big decisions? You're just a teenager and a real stupid one at that. Do you have a death wish?"

"You're the only one looking for a way off, Dan. I won't stop you from leaving, but I have nothing to go back to. If I go back, the authorities will find me and take me back to my foster parents. After that, I'll be back on the streets. At least here, whether I live or die, I'll have done something for a purpose. I don't expect you to understand it, but don't get in my way," I growled at him.

"That's not going to happen," he said and tried to take the bow from my hands. I tugged back on it before swinging out at him. I hadn't actually expected to hit him, but my fist made contact with his face causing his lip to bleed. He immediately released the bow and put one had to his mouth.

"Dan, I-"

"Don't," he said dejectedly, raising a hand up. "You think you're ready to be an adult, be my guest. Just don't come crying to me when you land on your face," he warned as he turned away from me.

I wanted to immediately apologize for what I had done, but he obviously didn't want to hear it, and I wasn't sure I sincerely would have meant it. I clenched my fist angrily before stomping off to meet Yori. It was times like this I did understand that man. He was trying so hard to be a fatherly figure, but he couldn't seem to understand that I didn't want one. I had been doing just fine and wasn't interested in the position to suddenly be filled. There was simply no use at this point.

Putting my anger to the back of my mind as best I could, I met Yori Yoi at the entrance of the cave, and he allowed me to ride on his back up to the top of the mountain.

"Frost will be here soon." Yori Yoi assured me, sensing my worried eyes that scanned the deserted landscape. "Stay here and wait for him. I must go back to Dan as I'm even worse than you in the snow." He took flight then, his last words lost in the howling gale.

I didn't have to wait long before I saw the familiar figure of Frost flying over the snow, coming clearer every second. This time wasn't so terrifying, but that didn't make him seem any smaller, which still put me on edge. Now I knew what a bug felt like just before it got squashed by a gigantic foot.

"You're Jaden, correct?" Frost asked when he landed, giving me his full undivided attention at that moment.

"Yeah, but why couldn't we have met up in the caves? Wouldn't that have been easier?" I asked, shivering in the cold air.

"It's faster this way. Hop on," he explained as he lowered himself down to my height, beckoning me on.

Using one of the spikes on his back and his arm as a step, I pulled myself up on his back so I was sitting between his shoulders. "Okay, let's go," I said. Without another word he stood up and lifted us into the air with a single motion of his wings.

We had put some distance between us and the cliff when he asked, "What exactly is your plan when we get there?"

"My only plan is to get there. We'll find out what they plan from there," I replied.

"So he was right about you humans. You only make plans as you go. It's a wonder your species has survived this long," he noted, not maliciously but more like absently as he continued moving onwards.

"In defense of my species, not all of us are like me. Most people prefer to have plans before attempting something like this. Hell, most people wouldn't do something like this even if they had a plan."

"Then why are you doing this? Surely you have some better reason," he queried, intrigued.

"I have no home, no one that will really miss me anymore, so I figure I may as well spend what's left of my more than likely short life doing something more productive than sit in a cave," I answered.

"You sound like Yori Yoi. I think you two were made for each other." There was something akin to amusement in Frost's voice now, a hidden smile as if I had surprised him.

"What do you mean?" I asked blankly.

"He's already told you about the history of our kind, so you already know about the Guardians. Each one that joined the Guardians was bonded with a dragon, some of them from birth. You two may have already bonded without knowing it," he explained.

"How do you know those details?" I asked since Yori Yoi had said nothing about that.

"Who do you think introduced the history to him? He is only sixteen years old, still young for a dragon. I taught him everything he knows." A hint of pride seemed to shine through in his voice as he said that, and I felt my respect towards the white dragon grow.

"Wow, that's-look down there!" I nearly yelled when I saw several figures running through the snow. Two of them looked like Ta-Matoran while the other must have been a Toa since he was taller than the others.

"That must be Kopaka," Frost observed.

"What are those things following them?" I asked pointing to three other figures that were following them.

"Those must be Rahkshi, the sons of Makuta. We probably shouldn't-what are you doing?" he asked as I loaded an arrow, craning his neck around to see what I was doing.

"Those things destroyed Ta-Koro," I replied resolutely. "They're hunting those poor Ta-matoran. If we don't stop them, there's no telling what they'll do," I explained as I took aim. I had never tried to make a shot like this before, so this was going to be a real test of my skills. I carefully centered my sight on the lead Rahkshi and pulled back. After doing my best to adjust for wind, distance and movement I let the arrow loose, watching the arrow fly with a rush of satisfaction in my blood.

That is until they stopped chasing the matoran and changed targets, us. "Evasive maneuvers would be good!" I yelled as what looked like a stream of sizzling energy came flying straight at us.

Frost swerved wildly trying to avoid being hit as I loaded another arrow on to the bow. Doing my best to aim on the moving dragon I shot out at the Rahkshi several more times, each one of them only seeming to aggravate them even more. I managed one more shot before two of the Rahkshi broke off to resume their chase while the third stayed to keep shooting at us. I fired another before Frost had to maneuver around again, twisting and diving at horrendously scary speeds. But this time, he over estimated how far he had to go and ended up sending us hurtling towards the ground.

Luckily I'd hit a massive snowdrift and ended rolling down the hill, all the while trying to keep my arms in and cover my face so as not to cause anything more than minimal injury. Vague memories of sledding trips back home began to come to mind. Most of time I would end up doing exactly what I was doing now since I always had such little control over my sled.

A spell of dizziness immediately greeted me as I rolled to a stop. Not far away, my bow with one arrow still left in the quiver lay pathetically in the snow. Reaching out, I made a desperate lunge for both, only to fall short and grasp the arrow alone by its fletching. I was about to grab the bow as well when a sharp stab in my skull yanked me up, turning me face to face with one of the Rahkshi. I froze as it stared at me with beady eyes, pausing only for a second before emitting a loud, screeching hiss. The mask that had been covering its face parted to reveal a worm like creature with two flapping jaws.

I screamed in terror at the sight of it before driving the arrow into its face several times, jabbing with all my might. It screamed before falling motionless to the ground. I crumpled over in the snow, scrambling away on hand and knees, terrified of the thing and what I had just done. I had never killed anyone or anything before, and here I had just done it without a second thought. I knew it was for my own protection, a self-defense mechanism that was ingrained too far in my brain to comprehend, but that still didn't seem to justify it in my mind.

I looked back at the body that now lay in the snow and nearly jumped when another hand found its way to my shoulder. I turned around, poised to drive the arrow into the face of another Rahkshi if need be only to find the Toa I had seen running in the snow. He looked at me, a hint of fear in one eye. The emotion in the other was indiscernible since it was less of an eye and more of a telescopic lens.

"Are you alright?" he asked, voice level and in control.

"I'm fine. But who are you?" I mustered with my bravest voice, throwing some false bravado in for good measure.

"You don't remember me as you were unconscious the last time I saw you," he observed stoically. "I'm Toa Kopaka, guardian of ice."

"Unconscious? When was this?" I questioned.

"The last time you were up here. But that's not important. What did you think you were doing? You could have gotten yourself hurt, or worse. Didn't you learn your lesson from last time?" he chided, sounding more like a scolding mother hen than a fearsome 'guardian'.

"Okay, so I offer assistance and I get scolded. What kind of thanks is that?" I grumbled irritably.

"That wasn't assistance. All you did was distract them for a few seconds. Barely enough time to do anything. Those other two still came after us, and you nearly got killed by the third. Now, what were you thinking?" he asked again, glowering this time.

"I was thinking you could use some help, Mr. Ungrateful. As you can see, I'm just fine. I even took out one of them by myself." I countered, planting my hands on my hips in traditional confrontation position.

"That's right, and you were so scared afterwards that you were about to do the same thing to me," he pointed out, telescopic lens in one eye zooming in on me, looking for something.

"I was not," I lied. "I was merely being defensive in case another one came by."

"You just keep trying to convince yourself of that," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"Speaking of which, where are the other two?" I asked remembering the pair that had gone after him and the two matoran.

"They're frozen," He said pointing to the now frozen lake at the bottom of the hill. In the middle of the lake I glimpsed a frozen arm reaching out as if about to grab hold of something.

"I see." I said, trying to cover up how impressed I was. "Well, um, nice work Toa Kopaka."

"Hmph," he muttered in response before turning down to the lake, clearly headed for the matoran. I made to follow him as Frost came up beside me.

"Jaden, are you alright? I'm sorry about that," he apologized.

"It wasn't your fault," I told him. "There's not much that could have been done to prevent it. Besides, it brought back some good Hatcher's Pass moments," I confessed.

"Hatcher's Pass?" Frost asked blankly.

"It's a sledding hill where I used to live. Very fun, but very dangerous," I explained.

"I see," he nodded sagely, but muttered, "You humans truly are strange creatures. It's a miracle your people have survived as long as you have."

"I've been thinking the same thing," Kopaka added from in front of us.

I glared into his back wishing I could hurt him. For someone who supposedly helped me the day before, he was really annoying. In fact, he kind of reminded me of Dan except he wasn't afraid to voice his opinion on a matter and didn't seem to take crap from anyone else. Dan wasn't afraid either, but if you said something hurtful to him, he seemed to close up for awhile.

I learned that the two matoran were Jaller and Takua, the Captain of the Guard at Ta-Koro and the Chronicler; they were on a quest to find the rightful owner of a Mask of Light. It all sounded kind of strange to me, and I didn't quite understand why they were going to all this trouble for a mask, but if this is what they were trying to do, then there was a chance I could be helpful.

"I should get you three out of here soon. There's no telling if there will be more of those things," Frost suggested.

"Good idea. It's better than whatever she had planned," Kopaka grumped.

"You know what? I have been taking all kinds of crap from you since I've come up here. I've helped you, and I don't appreciate the rude remarks I've been getting. Now, shut up before something unpleasant happens," I threatened.

"Your threats don't mean much, but if you want to be helpful I won't stop you. Just don't do something so stupid in the future as to charge into things you don't understand," he said, turning to leave. I promptly stuck my tongue out at him in response. I knew it was childish, but it felt really good at the time.

"Well, we should get going. Does the crab have to come?" I asked looking down at the thing that had followed the two.

"Of course Pewku is coming. We can't just leave her behind," the one called Takua said, looking scandalized that I had even suggested it.

"Well, let's go then. We're not getting anywhere by just standing here," I said turning to Frost.

"So where are we going?" Frost asked as he let them mount his back. Jaller took the gold mask in his hands, and after looking through it for a moment pointed in the desired direction. "You're headed towards the Onu-Koro tunnels," Frost noted. "I'll drop you three off there. It might be good for you to get out of the cold, Jaden," he added to me before taking off.

* * *

**AN: This will be the last update for awhile. I leave for Texas at the end of the week and more than likely won't have any internet use while there. I'll try to get in another update when I get back, but there are no guarantees.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Frost left us in the tunnels and headed back to tell Yori where we were. I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of wandering through dark caves with only a glowing mask as our guide, but I was the one who had decided to come, and I didn't really have a whole lot of choice. I could have gone back with Frost, but that would have meant having to go back to face Dan, and I had no desire to do _that_, what with how things had ended between us. If I returned, he would probably say something along the lines of "I told you so," which was the last thing I wanted to hear, especially when it was coming out of his mouth.

I didn't know how long we had been traveling or how far we had gone-every tunnel looked like the one that came before- before I noticed that Takua was missing.

"Hey, Jaller," I beckoned to the ta-matoran. "Did you see where Takua went?"

"Not again," he sighed, glancing around him in a vague hope of seeing his friend but without much conviction in his voice.

"I take it he makes a habit of doing this," I observed keenly.

"This was how we got in this mess in the first place. He wanders off to explore, and I'm stuck with his duty," he explained exasperated.

"I'm sure he doesn't mean it on-" I was cut off by a sudden, violent headache. It reminded me of the one I'd had back in the caves before I had lost consciousness except this time there was no voice. I had no explanation for it, but I was starting to regret ever exploring those caverns.

"Are you okay?" Jaller asked as he watched me put a hand to my temple.

"I'm fine. Just a headache," I half lied. I was pretty sure it wasn't a normal headache, but I wasn't going to be able to explain it to him, not since I had no clue about the nature of it. He looked at me quizzically for a moment and I realized he probably didn't know what I was talking about, or, if he did, he thought something was seriously wrong with me. Most people didn't get violent headaches in a split second.

After another moment the voice I was hoping would come started speaking. "There is darkness here. I can feel it. Free me!" It urged. I fought against it hoping that it would go away and that I wouldn't end up on the floor again.

"I would be so much happier if this would just go away," I moaned, as if it would help my predicament. Then, as if on cue, it stopped. I was left bewildered by it, not knowing what to do about the sudden lack of pain. Would this constantly happen? Was I going to have this voice talking inside my head forever? Or was it linked to the medallion that was still in my pocket and simply go away if I got rid of it? I wasn't sure. If the later decision was true, I couldn't really do anything about it. I knew Yori would be very upset if I just dumped an artifact of his history in some random tunnel.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of Takua coming back. "There you are!" Jaller exclaimed. "What were you up to _this_ time?"

"Jaller, about the mask," Takua began nervously.

"What about it? Are you ready to take it? Finally?" Jaller asked hopefully.

"I can't…I can't go with you," Takua admitted.

Both Jaller and I blinked stupidly in surprise. From what I had seen and heard from these two, they were close friends that had been together since the beginning of their adventure. Why he was suddenly backing out was a complete mystery.

"Oh that's just great!" Jaller exclaimed, anger beginning to sound through his voice. "First you stick me with your duty, and then you ditch me!"

"My duty is to myself. I quit! Just take the mask and go," Takua snapped and hopped onto the back of his crab.

"Takua, wait up," I called and began to run after the small form of the Ta-matoran.

"Not you, too," Jaller complained.

I went back over and said softly, "Let me talk to him. Maybe I can get him to change his mind. You keep on going. Hopefully, we'll catch up with you before too long."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry. It's going to be all right." That was going on my list for biggest and worst lie I could think of. Who was I kidding? There was no guarantee that I could get Takua to come back, let alone tell me why he up and quit.

"Okay," Jaller conceded somewhat unwillingly and turned back around. The only thing I was sorry about for going with Takua was that there was even less light now to guide us than before. I only hoped that crab could see in the dark or else we were going to get so lost in these tunnels or I was going to run into a wall. Neither option sounded pleasant.

"So, Takua, any reason behind this?" I asked after we were a safe distance from Jaller.

"I have my reaons," he answered vaguely.

"Any in particular?" Irritation was beginning to creep into my voice. "I mean, Jaller is your best friend. There had to be something behind it," I pressed. I could hear the torment in his voice as he tried to hide the truth. I recognized it from the time I had to lie to my teacher, who was practically my father. It wasn't easy keeping something from someone you cared about or someone you knew cared about you.

"I can't tell you. You'd only tell someone else and that would just cause more trouble."

"Takua," I said softly. "Whatever it is you say it'll stay between you and I; promise. No one else has to know. And I realize what it's like to keep something from a friend. It hurts, and you know you have to tell someone, or you'll explode from trying to bear the weight of the whole mess."

He looked over at me, a look of wanting in his glowing red eyes. He needed an ear to listen. "I've done something terrible," he breathed.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me," I urged leaning closer.

"It was…Makuta," he whispered, looking scared even as he hissed the last word out.

"Makuta?" I repeated, trying to remember who that was. "He's the spirit of darkness or something like that, right? His sons are those things from the mountain?"

"Yes, that's him," he affirmed. "He wanted me to give up the mask, but I refused. I couldn't tell Jaller, and I couldn't stay with him. I was only putting him in danger. The Rahkshi are after me," he explained.

"You? Why you? Jaller is the herald," I asked quizzically.

"No, he's not the real herald," Takua said heavily. "I was scared and convinced everyone that Jaller was the herald, but it's really just me. I found the mask, and when it touched me on the kholi field, it glowed. Everyone just thought it was shining at Jaller, but it was because I pointed it at him. I didn't want to believe it, but back on the mountain, I had the mask and the Rahkshi chased me. They want me, and as long as I refuse Makuta, the Rahkshi will keep chasing me. At least this way, Jaller won't have to get hurt."

I was stunned for a minute at this revelation. Ta-koro had been destroyed looking for him. Everything bad that had happened was because of him. I wasn't sure whether or not to be angry at him. I didn't have much right to since I wasn't there from the beginning nor was this truly my fight, but that didn't mean it still wasn't inside me somewhere.

"Takua, why didn't you say anything to Jaller?" I questioned as calmly as I could muster.

"He would have been furious if I told him. What would you have done?"

I didn't know how to answer him. I honestly had no clue what I would have done in his place. "I don't know, but running away wasn't the best decision you could have made. We have to get to Onu-koro. Maybe there will be a toa there that can help us," I suggested.

"We are not going to involve the toa in this. You promised you wouldn't say anything," he said, throwing my words back in my face.

"Takua, this is kind of important. Someone needs know about this. You and Jaller could still be in danger from the Rahkshi. If you don't-"

"You promised you wouldn't say anything! Are you going to keep your word or aren't you?" he spat at me, turning to face me head on.

How was I supposed to answer? If I said no, he might just walk off in another direction and leave me here. If I said yes, there was a chance something worse might happen. "Takua," I tried to answer but words wouldn't come.

"It's a simple question. Yes or no?" he pressed.

I sighed and conceded. "Fine. I won't say anything, but you have to do something about this."

"Fine," he answered and we kept on moving. It was at least several more hours before we finally reached the underground city. During that time I had already taken off my snow clothes and draped them over my shoulder.

As we entered, the sound of a loud, booming voice echoed off the walls of what could only be described as an enormous cave; it served as the village of Onu-koro. Remembering that Yori Yoi's tunnels were right above us, it made me wonder how big these mountains really were and how deep we were underground.

We moved forward through a crowd that had formed around their orator who had been telling them about how the Chronicler and the Captain of the Guard of Ta-koro were looking for the seventh toa. As we approached, the speaker stopped and could tell that he was one himself. His size gave him away. Another stood next to him, presumably another toa since he was about the same height.

"Chronicler," the brown one asked, "Where is the Herald?"

I was about to answer, but Takua beat me to it. "We got…separated after we met the Rahkshi," he half lied. I resisted the urge to glare at him before turning back to the toa.

"Rahkshi?" the other questioned. "What are Rahkshi?"

Before either of us could answer, a rumbling could be felt and head throughout the cave. Dust and small debris fell from the ceiling right before an explosion tore a hole through the rock sending boulders down. Everyone ducked or ran for cover as the rumbling stopped and revealed three terrors that I had not thought I would see again. Three new Rahkshi stood before us, but these looked different from the last ones we had seen. Each one was a different color than before and felt more terrifying than the last. Whether it was because I had not been this close to them all the last time or because I had seen their kind, I wasn't sure, but I was positive that they were going to cause some serious damage.

"Those, except different ones," Takua stuttered as he looked at creatures.

"Those will be enough for enough for now," the brown one said.

"Welcome to Onu-koro," the black one roared as he hit the ground with his fists, a wave of energy moving through the stone floor sending debris at the Rahkshi, temporarily burying them in stone.

In an instant, everyone had began screaming and running towards the nearest exit, realizing that a big fight was about to start. I dumped the clothing from my shoulder and yelled at Takua to run. They were here for him, and we both knew it. If he could get away, maybe the Rahkshi would be drawn away from the village before any serious damage could be done. We were almost out when Takua turned around, a look of conviction etching his features.

"Takua, what are you doing? We have to get out of here!" I exclaimed.

"I caused this mess. I'm gonna do what I can to fix it," he said with more determination than I had ever heard come from him before. He urged Pewku forward and grabbed what I assumed was a weapon that looked like a long hammer with a scoop on the other end before charging at the nearest Rahkshi.

I followed behind him, hoping that he knew what he was doing. He swung out with his weapon at the creature who looked very unimpressed at his attack. It grabbed his weapon and let out an all too familiar hiss as it opened its face plate, revealing the worm-like face inside. I shuddered at the memory before charging at it and hitting it in the face with my bow. It howled angrily and dropped the weapon, its attention now turned on me.

"Takua, get out of here, now!" I yelled at him as I drew it away from him.

"But I-"

"Don't argue. Just go! I'll be fine," I urged and ran in the opposite direction, forcing the thing to follow me. I watched Takua for a moment, watching as he looked defeated before hurrying off. Seizing the moment of my distraction, the Rahkshi backhanded me in the chest, sending me to the ground with a thud. I winced from the pain as I put a hand instinctively over the spot where he had hit me.

I stared up with wide eyes as he stood over me, pointing his staff down at my face, ready to deliver the final blow. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch what it was about to do when I heard a familiar voice cry out, "Rahkshi!"

I looked up to see Tahu distracting the creature, giving me the chance to get up from my spot. The Rahkshi did not seem pleased at the constant distractions and fired his energy at Tahu. Tahu brought up his sword to defend against the attack, but it was useless. Dark energy surrounded him and he went to the ground crying out in pain. "Tahu!" I cried out as I ran towards him and the Rahkshi walked away, no longer interested in us.

I knelt over him and examined him, hoping the damage was not too extensive, not that I knew anything about the injuries the Rahkshi could cause. As I looked over I could see that Tahu's normally red mask had been changed to a sickly green and cut ran across his left cheek. "Tahu?" I asked, hoping for some kind of response. The only signal that he gave was a small groan.

"Tahu, please, get up. I need your help. The matoran need your help," I urged, shaking him. Moments later, another familiar face came over. I recognized her as the one that had pulled me from the river several days ago.

"Brother," she breathed as she examined the damage that had been done. I was slightly taken aback by her response. They were siblings? They didn't even look alike! How were they siblings?

I was about to ask but was interrupted by Tahu. "Fire has no brothers," he said, standing up and grabbing his swords. We both took a step away from him. Something was not right. "Fire consumes all," he cried as he attacked us. A wave of hot energy surged from his swords as he hit the ground leaving a long scorch mark in the rock. I barely jumped away in time as the other blue toa leapt up to one of the hanging stalagmites.

He turned his attention away from her and onto me, the nearest target. "Tahu, please, stop this! We're not your enemies! We're your friends!" I tried to reason as I backed away from him.

"Fire has no friends," he repeated and swung out at me with one of his swords. I ducked away and managed to get onto my feet to put some distance between us. Turning back on him, I reached into my quiver to grab an arrow, hoping to just threaten him off, but what I found was not expected; the quiver was empty and I groped through empty air. Turning back to the on coming attacker, he swung his swords down, and without another moment's hesitation I brought my bow up and blocked him. He beat down on it several times, each time causing the metal of the bow to bend even more before final snapping in two.

I stared in horror at it for a moment thinking first that I was in serious trouble and second that the bow had cost me a lot of money. Quickly pushing aside the later thought, I began to back away from the enraged toa, trying to think of a better plan than what I had started with, which was nil.

The other toa took the moment to distract him from me, giving me the chance to put some distance between us again. This was not going to work for very long. Sooner or later, Tahu was going to tire of this and take one of us out. Who would be first was only a matter of time. I watched them for a moment as they fought, brother against sister. They fought as though they knew what the other would do next, one parry after the other as each one tried to come up with something new that would throw the other off. Watching them war was like watching an intricate but deadly dance.

It quickly came to a draw as the two backed away from each other, figuring that close combat would get them nowhere. I took the opportunity of this distraction and did the most idiotic thing I had probably done since crashing here. I ran at him and jumped on his back wrapping my arm around his neck. This was a classic move I had used on my brother-correction, foster brother-whenever we got into a serious fight. I didn't know how to do a sleeper hold or any fancy move like that, but I knew how to get him down on his back so that he couldn't do any damage without using up too much of my own strength.

Tahu thrashed about beneath my grip, but I held firm and began to pull down on him, forcing him to go down. He didn't respond well to force and began to fling his swords around, making every attempt to hit me with them. I couldn't go very far to evade his attacks with losing my grip, but I was able to stay close enough to him to keep him from hitting me.

As his rage grew in it ferocity, so did the accuracy of his swinging. Each time came even closer and his swords were growing even hotter. I grew even more nervous and contemplated on releasing my grip, but I didn't have long enough for that. He made a final strike, this time hitting his mark: my back.

I had been burned pretty badly before from some of my more adventurous cooking escapades, but none of those had anything on the pain that I felt now. I fell to the ground, tears flowing freely from my eyes as I crumpled up. My body shook from pain and shock, the pain making it unbearable to move. I wasn't paralyzed since I still had feeling in all my appendages, but the excruciating pain I felt from that burn made me wish that I couldn't.

I breathed heavily as I looked up at the intimidating form that now stood over me, ready to finish me off. As I prepared myself for what was to come, a jet stream of water hit him, knocking him away from me. I could only assume it was the other toa, but nothing was clear to me anymore. My vision became clouded as the pain took over, making me wish I could feel anything but this, anything but pain.

* * *

Kopaka watched as the toa fought. He couldn't imagine what had caused them to fight in such a way, but he could only assume that the Rahkshi had something to do with it. Running over as quickly as he could, Kopaka heard his sister, "Tahu, remember who you are! Remember your destiny!"

"I have no destiny," Tahu groaned against the force of the water that was pulsing against him. Taking the moment to stop him, Kopaka put his sword against his brother and froze him in place.

"I'm sorry, brother," was all the ice toa said. With that danger out of the way, both Lewa and Gali came over.

"Brothers, let's get them to safety," she said making a quick glance over to the crumpled up form of who he could only assume was the human Jaden. Fighting back the urge to gasp at the burn in the shape of Tahu's sword across her back, he hurried over to her and gingerly picked her up.

All of a sudden there was an explosion and the ceiling began to rumble sending large debris from above. "We'll never get them both out in time!" Kopaka said over the noise of the crashing roof.

"We can't just leave them!" Gali exclaimed.

Kopaka tried to think quickly, but he could think of no solution to their problem. There was no time to think it through. The cave was collapsing, and it was only a matter of time before they would all be buried in the rubble. As he contemplated on the grim thought of leaving the human behind, two large forms made their way through the cave. Never before had he been so relieved to see those scaly creatures.

"Lewa, Gali, get on! Frost will take the other two, and I'll grab the last! Hurry!" the nameless dragon ordered. They all did as told and climbed on to the animals' backs as the ceiling began to fall in larger pieces. With barely moments to spare, the nameless one grabbed Tahu's frozen form and led them all out of the crumbling cave through the hole that he assumed had been created by the Rahkshi.

They flew away from the mountain and down into the jungle below where they let them off in a clearing near the river. After securing Tahu down to a large boulder and laying Jaden down on the ground, Kopaka turned to the dragons and said, "Thank you Frost for bringing him. We wouldn't have made it out without you."

"Don't thank me, toa. It was Yori Yoi here who found me to help. He's the one who deserves the gratitude," Frost said practically beaming like a proud father at Yori Yoi.

Pushing a thought away about the dragon's new name, Kopaka turned to him and repeated his thanks. "I only wish we could have gotten there sooner. Maybe then this wouldn't have happened," he said as he glanced over at Jaden. He had never been burned before, but judging from the state she was in, it must have been painful and unbearable. He was surprised she was even still alive, guessing from the severity.

"Maybe so, maybe not. I shouldn't have let her go either way. I should have stood by Dan's decision to keep her back in the cave, but I didn't. This all my fault," Yori Yoi grieved.

"You can not blame yourself for her actions," Frost said trying to bring some comfort to the obviously downtrodden dragon. "She knew the danger of the Rahkshi when she was on the mountain. She knew what she was getting herself into."

"I don't think she realized that toa would possible turn on her. It looks like the Rahkshi poisoned him. None of us were ready for that," Kopaka stated solemnly.

"This is true. Yori, you must go back and get Dan. He might know what can be done for her," Frost suggested.

"He wants nothing to do with this. He let her go saying that she was on her own if anything went wrong," Yori Yoi admitted.

"That may be, but I have seen him; he has the look of father. No matter how a child stumbles, he would want to be there to help that child. He will come, even if he does seem like he will," Frost commented.

"You two work on that. I must go help Gali and Lewa with Tahu. There is much damage that must be undone." Kopaka stated simply before leaving the two dragons at it in the clearing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It took much work on Gali's part to heal Tahu, but the task was finally complete, and Gali was left to recover her strength. Kopaka stayed a few minutes more to watch Jaden, who could barely move without emitting some grunt or groan of discomfort. Dan had come, but he was of little use. What little he did know of burn treatment wasn't promising enough to chance.

"She needs a hospital," Dan blurted out the moment he saw her bare back, discolored in a vibrant array of hues from the serious burns.

"What do you mean?" Kopaka asked, obviously not entirely familiar with the human body.

"Jaden needs a professional, these look like third degree burns! She may need skin grafts and who knows what else. If she stays here, this could kill her," he explained sternly, glaring at the otherwise mute toa.

"I'm not sure what you want me to do about that, there's no way to get you both off the island safely without revealing where we are to the rest of the world," Kopaka stated before turning to leave, his mind already drifting to his other responsibilities. "For now, do what you can. Gali will heal what Jaden to the best of her ability when she has recovered."

"Your Gali should have treated her injuries first instead of wasting time on _him_," Dan spat, venom laced in his voice as he pointed to Tahu's prone form.

"He's our brother," Kopaka's eyes narrowed as he coolly dismissed Dan's assertions. "Blood is thicker than water. Besides, his condition was just as serious as hers," Kopaka continued, forcing himself to keep his composure, to rationalize and accept the way things were, and to justify his actions. But even so, the default irritation that seeped into his voice without him noticing was still palpable, judging by the way Dan momentarily shrank back before jumping in again.

"So you admit that you care more about your own kind than mine," Dan accused, teeth gritted in a fine display of pearly whites.

"You know I didn't, so don't go putting words in my mouth. The poison was killing him. Tahu may not have lasted much longer," Kopaka reasoned, breathing deeply though his nose as he strained himself into an icy calm zen. He couldn't afford to step on any toes, not now at least; the human Dan didn't seem strong enough to stand against an angry ice toa.

"She may not last long either! Do you have any idea what injuries like that can do to a person without treatment?" he practically howled, clenching his fists at his sides and glaring balefully at Kopaka.

"There's no need to repeat yourself," Kopaka replied flatly.

"How can you be so unfeeling?" Dan exclaimed. "She tried to help you people, and how is she repaid? With callousness and indifference!"

"She was aware of the risks of her decision." The argument was becoming repetitive, and Kopaka found himself slipping away, bluntly repeating the motions without actually thinking. "I warned her, yet she chose to continue. As I understand it, you did not want to have anything to do with Jaden when she left. Why all the concern now?"

Dan made a fist before answering, breathing shallowly through his nose as though to calm himself. "I thought I could trust her with you, all of you; and this is what happens. I should never have let her go."

Kopaka turned away at the accusation, wincing infinitesimally at the well placed barb. If Dan's intent was to make him feel guilty, he didn't have to try very hard. Kopaka could very well manage without the human's help. "I did all I could to save her," he allowed himself, the words coming out in a half-regretful, half-baleful murmur that seemed all the more sad for the lack of volume that accompanied it.

"No!" Dan cried out. "You've barely tried. Help us leave. You can save her that way!"

"This may be a hard concept for you to understand, but the safety of all comes before the safety of one. There is nothing more I can do," Kopaka replied before finally, finally turning to leave, exiting swiftly and already headed to the next call of duty. He heard Dan yell something, but it didn't register. His mind was already otherwise occupied by thoughts that ranked with more importance than Dan's ranting.

* * *

Dan did what he could for Jaden after Kopaka left. Using a knife, he carefully cut away what clothing he could from the burn, asking Yori Yoi to bring another set for her. He took a strip of the burnt material, soaked it in the river, and went about treating the wound as best he could. As he waited, thoughts from earlier flooded Dan's mind.

How could she run off so recklessly like that against one of those things? Couldn't she see the danger, the lethality of her decisions? Did she truly, deep down in her soul, want to die? Did she honestly believe no one cared about her? Yes, she had made it painfully clear that she didn't want or need, a family; but did that mean she also had no such interest in a friend either? She seemed to accept the dragon. He never could understand the bond there, but what was it about having him as a friend that she detested so much?

"Dan," Yori said, bringing Dan out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" he responded, turning to reply.

Yori dropped the bundle of clothes beside him and let Dan continue. He laid it gently across her back to cover the wound. From here on out, there was nothing more that he could do.

"Dan, I'm sorry," Yori apologized fervently.

"Why did you have to let her go?" Dan demanded. "You could have stopped her, but you didn't. Why?"

"No matter what choice I made, one of you would have been angry. And why are you blaming me? You could have stopped her yourself, but you let her go without a fight. How do you justify that?" Yori challenged, eying Dan questioningly.

"I did fight for her! But Jaden made it all too clear what it was she wanted," he said, rubbing his cheek where she had struck him.

"You're a father aren't you? What would you have done if she was your own?" Yori quietly asked, staring at Dan with a quiet intensity that seemed more spearheaded than any of his other questions to date.

"I would have given her a good spanking that's for sure, but she's not mine. And I'm not her father."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't need you to be. Did you ever think of that?"

"Don't patronize me," Dan snapped. "I've already tried. Jaden doesn't want a parent, and I'm tired of trying to force that upon her. She thinks she's ready to be an adult, then so be it. I won't try to stand in her way anymore," he added and stormed off, leaving Yori Yoi staring at his retreating back, more in askance than anything else.

* * *

Where was I?

What happened?

Am I dead?

I tried to move but was greeted with the searing heat of pain. Well, definitely not dead. Death wasn't supposed to feel like this. At least, I hoped not.

I could smell what could only be described as green. Trees, plants, flowers, dew, everything natural that I could think of was in the air. Definitely not underground anymore. I opened my eyes to see the familiar trees of the jungle that I had come to know.

I shifted again, and along with pain I could feel that I was lying, not on earth, but on some sort of rock, hard and uncomfortable as ever. That and I wasn't wearing my t-shirt anymore. I groped around blindly, finding the one sitting behind me that had slid from my back.

Pushing through the discomfort I sat up and scrambled into the shirt to the best of my ability. Taking a better look of my surroundings, far away I saw Tahu bound to his own rock, unconscious. Sitting next to him was Lewa who, seeing me, stood up and walked behind several bushes. I didn't understand why he had done that, but I figured I would learn soon enough.

"It's good to see you finally awake," a cool yet familiar voice said from behind me.

"Dan," I said to myself as I looked over my shoulder. There he was, leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest, a stern look etched into his features. "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with this," I said, almost hopeful that he had changed his mind.

"I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. I was dragged down here by that dragon you seem so fond of," he replied.

"At least he's supportive."

"Of what?" Dan demanded. "Getting you killed? Pardon me, but that's not exactly something one should get excited about."

"Why is it everyone thinks I'm trying to kill myself? It's not like I have a death wish. What is wrong with trying to help out?"

"You're going about it the wrong way!" Dan snapped, approaching me. "There are other ways. I don't know how, but there's got to be a different way. Jut look at yourself.

The only reason you're still alive is because that dragon came back for you and that Gali person helped heal you. Still, you could have died. What do you have to say to that?" he questioned, looking both frustrated and flustered at once.

I sat still for a moment and thought it over, more or less for Dan's benefit than mine before standing up, wincing as the skin stretched painfully. "I say I'm getting some air. Away from you," I said and hobbled off in the opposite direction, past the unconscious Tahu, and into the deep green of the jungle vegetation.

"Oh no you're not," Dan objected following close behind, having no problem keeping up with my slow jaunt.

"What? Are you going to try to stop me?" I shot back at him. "Because that worked out just so well last time."

"No," he replied, grabbing me by the arm, effectively halting me in my tracks. "This time, I intend to make you stay whether you like it or not. You may not be my kid, you may not even like to hear the simple truth that you're my responsibility, but I'll be damned if I let this go any farther.

You are just sixteen. No one is ready for something like this at your age. You're coming with me, and we are going to find a way off this island before something worse happens," he ordered in a stern, fatherly tone.

"What am I supposed to go back to? Running away? Find your own way off, but I am not leaving," I snapped and ripped my arm from his grasp and continued on, jerking leafy green out of my way a bit harder than strictly necessary.

"You're not going anywhere young lady," Dan growled, reaching for me again.

I jerked away, "No!" I snapped, glaring at him as if to contradict me further.

All of a sudden a loud shrieking growl could be heard as a sharp spiked tail came hurtling through the air. Both Dan and I jumped away, pain searing across my back. Not far behind was the owner of the tail, Ilsa. She bared her teeth and let out a feral growl that reverberated deep from within her throat.

"Dan, run!" I shrieked as I tried to distract the beast. She swung out with her claws, barely missing as her talons came within inches of my painfully prone skin.

"Hold still human, and this won't end so painfully for you," she growled in frustration, swinging back for another go.

"Do I have a sign written on my face that says 'stupid'?" I taunted as I jerked back. She veered out again, this time grabbing me and slamming me into the ground. Absently, I realized my back was in a burning agony, but this didn't register in full, the object of my fascination far more dangerous and urgent than a few burns.

"No, but I can remedy that for you," she said, holding up a claw to my face. "Time to die."

"Hey dragon!" someone yelled, throwing a rock at her face. She snarled as it made contact and looked to the culprit that had thrown the projectile. Dan.

"Dan, run! Get the toa!" I called out, struggling against the oppressive weight of her claws to no avail.

"Come on, dragon," he called.

"Very well. I guess I'll start with an appetizer," she said, dropping me and swinging out with her tail. Dan sidestepped one way, but when he tried to skirt the blows again, I was horrified by the outcome.

Ilsa's tail moved with him before stabbing through his chest with a spike. "No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my eyes fixated on Dan with a horrified fascination.

What had I done? Where were the toa? Where was Yori Yoi? Why was no one there to stop this? What had I done?

I could feel the anger and rage build inside me. I wanted to tear her apart for what she had done. I wanted her to feel my pain, feel her heart be ripped out like mine had. In the back of my head I could hear the voice again saying, "Do it."

I felt something deep down, a strength I had never felt before, something that could only be described as raw energy. There was a warmth in my hands that felt unnatural as hot, angry tears streamed down my face. The pain in my back was more of a distant memory as I lashed out.

Fire flew from my hands hitting the ground at her feet. Everything I did, it felt, for lack of a better word, weird. It was all so alien to me, it felt as though it were not me, but something else entirely; something terrible that I knew was supposed to be kept locked inside, something you just know is wrong, something that deep down everyone knows is evil. I didn't have to time to wonder how or why this was happening. All I wanted to do was make her feel my pain, to burn in the fiery inferno that she rightfully deserved.

Isla gaped at me in a combination horror and confusion that would have been funny if not for the circumstances, before lashing out at me with her tail again. I put up a hand instinctually to block it, a tower of rock coming up as I did so, doing what I needed to protect myself.

The look in her eyes was pure fear. Now I was ready to make her feel my pain. Summoning what little control over this power that I had, I hurled a spike of earth and fire into her heart, pinning her to the ground. She let out a scream of pain and terror as she breathed her last and became still.

After the final blow, I fell to my knees, my limb shaking from the rush that was now gone. I felt relieved that he was dead, felt delight at the fact that she had suffered, but at the same time, it was a dirty feeling, a feeling that can never be washed away. Anyone with morals or a conscience knows that killing-even a creature as terrible as Ilsa was-is wrong, that no matter how good the reason or intention, it is still wrong. I knew that, but for some reason, a part of me did not care. Part of me would gladly do it again, if it ould prevent what had happened.

Bringing myself back to the present, I ran from her body over to Dan, hoping that I wasn't too late. "Dan," I said frantically as I kneeled next to him. He coughed a breath, saying something inaudible. "What?" I asked trying to figure out what he was trying to say.

"I'm…sorry," he strained barely above a whisper.

"For what? You did nothing wrong. You're like this because of me," I wept.

"You…were right to stand up…for yourself. Be…careful. Don't…forget…who you are." He coughed again, blood beginning to spill from the corners of his mouth. "Tell my family…if you ever go back…I love them. Promise me," he breathed.

"I promise, Dan," I said as tears flowed even more. "Please, Dan, don't leave me," I wept. "I'm sorry for all the things I said. I never should have said them. You were just doing the best you could. Please, Dan!" I begged, gripping his arm with as much strength as I could muster.

He never answered. He had already closed his eyes and stopped breathing. I doubled over, my body wracking with sobs. I didn't know how long I sat there crying until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Lewa and Yori standing with a look of shock, sorrow, and horror. Behind them was Gali, a mirror of the same emotion written across her face. I probably looked pitiful to them now. I knew I felt it. With nothing else left that I could do, I wept again, letting out what was left of my anger and frustration.

* * *

**AN: Yay for updates! Sorry this took so long. I've been really busy latly with the theater and homework that I haven't been able to devote much time to writing anything lately. There's preobably going to be only two or three more chapters to this. Thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. And I must thank my most wonderful beta, darkraven0, for with out her help, this story would not have been able to get this far.**

**Hey guys. Sorry for this, but I'm going on hiatus until January due to school problems and the fact that I want to graduate. I promise I'll come back!!! Don't leave me now!! I want to finish the story already and I know you guys probably want the ending too.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

I stared at the marker for Dan's grave, the pendant lying on the ground at my feet as I mulled over what had happened only minutes before.

After getting over the initial shock of what I had done to Ilsa, I turned to Yori. I needed answers, but he wasn't too pleased with the fact that I had taken the pendant in the first place. Eventually though, with some help from Frost, he got through the story of the evil necklace.

Apparently along with the legends of the Guardian, there was a rumor of her wielding a great power, which had been put aside as merely myth or some sort of sorcery that was easily shrugged off. There were no exact details of what that power had been, but references to natural disasters during fights where the Guardian always seemed to come out on top hinted at a few things. But even though that helped clear up some of my curiosity, it still didn't explain where that voice had come from or what role it played.

"Frost, do you know anything else? Anything in the legends that talk about something…evil? Something destructive or otherwise?" I questioned.

He pondered the question a moment before answering. "There was one instance. During some of the earlier stories when the Guardian was beginning to gain power, it is said that a change came over the Guardian. Arrogance, a lust for power, harsher tactics...an evil seemed to fall upon the Guardian, same as what happens with many great heroes throughout history. When this fact was finally brought to the Guardian's attention that something had to change, the legend says that the evil was locked away, and anytime those evil urge sprung up, the Guardian merely stored it away in some secret place, though the legend never says how or where."

"What about the evil resurfacing and trying to take over again?" I questioned more urgently, finally sensing that I was onto something.

"I can't say for sure. This is an ancient history passed by word of mouth. Anything that may have been written down was lost when we were moved here. From what I do know, after the Guardian died, no one ever used the original pendant again. The Guardian, or the Guardian's followers may have known about the evil and feared the possibilities it might bring. I suppose that was why reproductions were made," Frost explained, ending on an inconclusive note.

I turned the other dragon, "Why was none of this recorded on the walls, Yori Yoi?"

"You expect me to know?" He snorted. "Those drawings were there long before I was born."

"I expect the followers did not want others to know for fear someone would actually try it. It obviously takes someone of strong will and virtue to keep it contained. All things considered, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner Jaden," Frost noted, glancing a ponderous look my way.

"You and me both." I admitted. "The pendant tried before the first time I wore it. It attempted the same trick again just before Takua and I split up from Jaller. The voice said something about sensing…" I trailed off, getting lost in my thoughts along the way. That's when the connection hit me. "It was Makuata," I breathed.

"What are you talking about?" Tahu demanded.

"After Takua and I left Jaller, Takua told me something about Makuta. Right before that, I heard the voice again. It started going on about sensing darkness or something like that. It must have reacted to some sort of dark energy," I explained.

"That is one theory, but that would not explain what just happened," Frost pointed out.

"I know that, but do you have any better ideas?" I snapped.

"Perhaps," Frost continued, un-phased by my tone. "The legends refer to the evil whenever the Guardian was conflicted emotionally. That seems to fit better."

"Are you suggesting I become a Vulcan now and learn to suppress my emotions?" I asked rhetorically, not even bothering to hide the bite in my voice.

"Vulcan? I'm not familiar with that term. Please explain," Frost asked.

"It doesn't matter," I shrugged, sighing and trying to take control of my senses again. "What are you suggesting?"

"The simplest thing to do is to take it off," Yori said. "We've all seen what damage it can cause. The best thing to do is put it back in the cave where it belongs."

"I think he's right," Frost agreed. "It's too dangerous for anyone to handle."

I heard their words and knew they were all right, but at the same time, I couldn't help but disagree. For once I could actually do something to help. With that kind of power I could do so much more.

"Give me a minute to consider it," I told them before walking off.

"What do you mean, consider it?" Yori exclaimed. "You know what that thing can do without control, control you don't have."

"Jaden, he's right. That's nearly a thousand years of locked up anger and rage and who knows what else in that thing. It took years for the Guardian to learn the proper control. What makes you think you can do it any better or faster than him?" Frost challenged.

"I'm not saying that. I just…I don't know. I need a minute alone," I fumed and stormed off to Dan's grave.

Minutes latter I still didn't know what to do. I wondered what Dan would have said if he were still here. Probably the same thing that everyone else was suggesting, which made me roll my eyes at the thought. They all had sound advice. The medallion was dangerous and nearly drove the Guardian mad until she learned how to control it. Part of me was willing to wait long enough to figure it out, but the rational side of me was saying it was too risky to even consider. This shouldn't have been so hard to decide.

So why was it?

"Jaden," I heard Tahu call, bringing me out of my thoughts with a start. "We have to go now to catch up with Jaller and Takua. Are you ready?"

I looked back to Dan's grave and made up my mind. "I can't go with you," I answered, the conclusion I had already reached subconsciously finally forcing its way to the surface, making itself known.

"What? What are you saying?"

"It's time I grew up and faced reality. I can't keep on pretending that I can do anything of use. That's what got Dan killed. I won't do it again." These were sound reasons, and I stood beside them, fully believing.

"His death wasn't your fault Jaden," he said, trying to console me.

"If I hadn't gotten hurt, he wouldn't have left Yori's cave, and then Ilsa wouldn't have come after us. It is my fault, Tahu, no matter how you try and put it."

"So that's it then? You're going to give up just because one thing goes wrong?" There was an undercurrent of irritation bubbling in his tone, but I knew I had to do this.

"A father and husband won't be going home to his family," I snapped. "That's more than just a mistake. That's a catastrophe, and I won't be stand to be a part of another."

He gave a huff, "Fine. Sit here and sulk all you want. I have more important things to do."

It wasn't long before Yori appeared; coming the way the irate fire toa had left. "What's this I hear about you not coming? After all that fuss, you're not going to finish what you started?"

"If you mean getting in the way, then yes." My voice way low as I voiced the things I had known from day one but refused to acknowledge. "I refuse to be anymore a hindrance than I've already been. I can't do that to the Toa anymore. Besides, I've already gotten one person killed. Don't you think that's enough?"

"Jaden," he said in a sympathetic voice. "You can't run away from this, not now. It's too late. What would Dan say?"

"I know what he'd say," I said, finally standing to face him. "He'd be happy I started using my brain for the first time since we crashed here. I'm going to find a way home, Yori. I'm going back, and I'm going to explain to his family what happened. They deserve that much and I made a promise."

"But—"

"No," I snapped, cutting him off. "Look, I'm sorry Yori, but I just can't. This is more than I can handle. I should have known that from the beginning, but I was too thick-headed to see it. You can go if you want to, but I just can't."

Yori looked stunned for a moment, "I thought you were different." His expression had hardened as he voiced his stinging accusation. "I thought you were something unique, something special. I guess I was just being naïve. You're like all other humans, all talk and no action when you're really needed."

"The Toa don't need me Yori. I'm just a child. A child who should have learned long ago that she's not ready to be an adult yet."

"No, you're just a coward that's just running away when things get tough."

"Who are you to judge me? Before I came along, you were just an embarrassment without a name that hid in his cave," I snapped, firing up now that I had nothing to lose.

"At least I'm doing something to help, unlike you," he threw back.

"It took you long enough. If you're so eager to help them, then go. I'm not stopping you. Just don't be surprised when it all ends badly." I was shrieking by now, anger spewing through the gaps in my words.

"It wasn't just Dan who died. A piece of you died too," he growled before turning away to leave.

The words cut through me like a hot knife through butter. I knew too well that it was true. Dan was family no matter how much I wanted to deny it. A piece of me was gone, and maybe it was for the better. No longer did I have the defiance of a teenager, but instead the insight of an adult, something I could have used a long time ago. Too bad there wasn't an easier way of learning it.

I stooped over and picked up the medallion, resisting the urge to chuck it as far into the woods as I could. I stood there, contemplating what step I should take next. I had to leave this place, but I had no knowledge of boats or rafts or any other aquatic mode of transportation that could get me home. Well, Dan's home that was.

"Courage," I heard someone whisper. I jumped in fear that it was the evil of the pendant, but I felt no danger. I swiveled around, searching for the voice but found no one in sight. "Courage," the voice whispered again. I suddenly recognized the voice as the one from before the wreck.

"What do you mean? Who are you? What do you want from me now?" I questioned the wind that seemed to carry the voice, glancing around frantically as I did so.

"Do not lose your courage now, young one," the voice said and all of a sudden, like a ghost appearing from nothing, the same figure stood before me.

"Who are you? What are you? I must be losing my mind," I said, raking my fingers through my hair, grimacing.

"You have not gone insane, child. Do not lose faith over one death. He is still with you, even now. Do not give up. Your companions need you. They rely on you more than you know."

"But I've done nothing important, I've—"

"You have shown them the power of what one person can do. There is strength there more powerful than any evil creature. You agreed to finish this journey. There is no backing out now. You must complete your quest, if you want to learn who you are, who you were meant to be."

"My past is not worth this, not more death," I said and turned away, determined to leave what seemed to be a fever dream far behind.

"Death is a part of life," the apparition said sternly, appearing in front of me suddenly. I found myself sitting on the ground then, stunned by what was happening. "He would not want you to give up. Do not give in because life is too difficult to bear. You are not alone. Your friends are there to pick you up whenever you fall. Do not let them fail because of one accident. You can either spend the rest of your days running from your future, or you can face it. The choice is yours. The medallion shall be your aid in your journey. You can not simply forsake it now.

Now," the ghost said as she began to vanish, drifting away into nothing. "You must go to your friends before it is too late."

"Wait," I exclaimed, reaching out to her, trying to touch something insubstantial and failing. "You still haven't told me who you are or why you're doing this. Please, I have to know."

"I am never far away. We will see each other again, Jaden," she said, and was gone.

I sat there mulling over her words. Was it that simple? Go after them, possibly run into Rahkshi, fight them off with the toa, and save Jaller and Takua? Was it that simple to forget about the evil thing inside the pendent and try to use whatever power, magic or otherwise, that came with it?

No, I told myself, nothing was that simple.

* * *

**AN: Here's the next chapter. As always, let me know what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Yori!" I yelled through the woods as I ran. No answer. "Yori!" I called again. _Where could he be?_ I thought. _He couldn't have gotten too far, it's only been a few minutes._ "Yori!"

I had to find Yori. I had no clue where the he had gone, but he was my only way of finding the toa. Had he gone with them?

"Frost! Frost are you there? Where's a dragon when you need one?"

"Jaden?" a voice asked, coming softly from behind me. I looked to where the voice had come from, suddenly tense, but relaxed once I saw that it was only Kidril.

"Kidril, what are you doing here? And where's your dad? I could use his help."

"He went after Yori Yoi. He looked upset after what you said to him," he explained.

"Well, that's just great," I muttered sarcastically, wracking my brain for a new plan. I knew Yori wouldn't help me now, not after refusing last time, and if Frost was with him, that automatically meant he couldn't help either.

"Kidril, do you know where the toa went?" I eyed the small dragon curiously, "this is important."

"Well," Kidril began, "they said they were going after two matoran. There were reports that the both of them were heading towards the Kini Nui. They might be there now."

"That's just great," I cursed, throwing up my hands in exasperation. "How am I supposed to get there? I don't even know where that is, or what it is for that matter."

"I do," he chimed, "I can take you."

"Kidril," I simply stared at him, measuring the size of the tiny dragon incredulously, "this is dangerous. How old are you?"

"I'm seven; but I can do it," he defended, shifting anxiously on his feet. "Come, hop on, I'll take you there in a jiffy!"

"You're still a child!" I accused him, folding my arms across my chest and frowning down at him. "Frost would be pissed if he knew I voluntarily helped put you in danger."

"He doesn't have to know."

"You think he won't find out? What happens when you go missing for awhile? You think he's not going to notice?" I questioned, my voice high and tight, strained from the impossibility of the situation. I needed a ride, but I couldn't put Kidril in danger. I had no other way to get there, and he was my only choice. Where does need outweigh ethics?

"I'm old enough to take care of myself." Kidril told me, puffing out his chest to make himself seem bigger. "He doesn't worry about me like that anymore. So, do you want my help or not?" I truly doubted that last statement was true, but let it go unchallenged.

I raked my fingers through my hair, indecision running through my mind. He was just a child by human standards, but he was almost an adult by dragon standards. Was that supposed to make it okay?

"Okay," I conceded with a huff. "The only problem is I don't have a weapon. Tahu killed my bow." I winced at the memory.

Kidril merely blinked at me, "Can't you just make another?"

I shook my head. "Even if I knew how to make a decent stick bow, we don't have time or the materials needed."

"Then what do you have in mind?" he inquired, cocking his head in my direction as I thought. What could I use? If I tried going in empty handed, I'd only become a problem. But I couldn't just not go. They were my friends and for a reason I couldn't fathom at the moment, they had asked for my help.

"Well…" I trailed off, stepping into the underbrush, glancing around I scanned the foliage looking for something, anything that looked passable as a weapon. I caught sight of a sapling not far away that looked just thick enough to be used. "Kidril, give me a hand and cut this please," I said gesturing to the small tree with my hand.

Kidril flung out his tail to reveal a razor sharp blade on the end that sliced cleanly through the width of the trunk, the rest of the tree falling with a satisfactorily loud thump onto the forest ground.

"What exactly are you planning to do with that?" Kidril asked, sitting back and eying the tree as though he thought I had gone crazy. "It's a tree."

"I know it's a tree. I'm going to use this as a bowstaff," I told him confidently, snapping off the extra boughs. "It won't kill anything, but it'll definitely give me a better chance than nothing at all."

"Well," Kidril gave the bowstaff one last dubious glance, "We should hurry. The Rahkshi may already be there." As if to emphasize this point, he spread his wings, looking at me expectantly.

"All right," I said climbing onto his back, "let's go then."

He took off and flew over the trees, the landscape of the forest becoming increasingly clear as we gained altitude. And while Kidril's speed didn't compare to that of Yori's, he was still quite fast for one his size.

"Kidril," I said, raising my voice to be heard over the wind rushing past us, "when we get there, just drop me off and go. I don't want you getting caught in this fight."

He didn't turn his head, but the sudden jerk as his wings hesitated was more than enough to convey his feelings on the matter "But-"

"No," I snapped, cutting him off. "Your father is going to be mad enough. I'm not risking it any more than this." I knew that I could use a friend in the middle of the battle that we were headed to, but I wasn't willing to risk Kidril's life to do so, and as he lowered his head, I could tell he had accepted this fact.

"Look over there," he said, nodding straight ahead. I could just make out several structures and figures that I recognized as the toa.

"Get me in close to the matoran," I commanded him, shifting lower on his back as I spoke, glancing anxiously at the group of smaller figures. "The Rahkshi look fairly distracted by the toa." Kidril nodded and went in low, driving as close to the ground as he dared, and allowed me the chance to jump off his back. I rolled forward as I impacted on the tough ground, muscles in my back protesting as I came to a sudden stop in front of the matoran.

"Jaden? You're here!" Takua exclaimed with joy, laughter illuminating his mask for a moment before the gravity of the situation quieted him.

"Don't count your blessings yet," I muttered, turning to face them. "This fight is far from over."

Both Jaller and Takua's faces contorted with a look of horror. I turned back in time to see something red making contact with my face, sending ripples of hot, white pain across my body even as I slid back. A Rahkshi, I figured, finally managing to look back towards the crimson hued creature, my vision finally returning.

The matoran had tried to run, but Takua, caught up in whatever red energy that thing had shot at him, was effectively grounded. I forced myself to stand up, to fight against my vision that was still spinning, sending my surroundings into a kaleidoscope of senseless color and sound. But it was no use, and I couldn't fight against the pull of the ground as I slumped down, bowstaff completely limp in my hand.

I watched, vaguely aware that this shouldn't be happening, as Jaller charged at the Rahkshi and grabbed a hold of its staff, absorbing that same red energy before being shook off the staff and tossed aside. He lay there motionless, and that's when I felt the last straw go. That was it. I came to help prevent another death, but I had failed. I was tired of feeling like a failure, tired of watching my friends get hurt because I could do nothing. I felt the dark power from before begging to be let out but not this time. This time I wasn't going to rely on some outside power to handle the problem. This was going to be my fight.

I gripped my staff and charged at the Rahkshi, bashing it in the head as hard as I could with my bowstaff. It stumbled back before turning its wormy face on me and screeching, sending a wave of shivers down my spine. I charged though, ready to hit it again.

But this time it was prepared, and using its staff to block mine, it pushed me back before striking, slicing cleanly through my weaker wood bowstaff. It was about to strike again when I rolled out of the way. Taking what small opportunity I had, I kicked its feet from under it, sending it tumbling. I stumbled in my hurry to rise. I knew there was going to be a bruise for that later, but I wasn't going to worry about that now.

I grabbed half of what was left of my staff and pointed the now sharp, broken end towards its face, jabbing forward in a blind attempt to land a blow. But as I was about to stab it through, it shifted back and out of the way, using my momentary confusion to swing out again. I jumped away, avoiding the tip of its staff by a narrow margin, and it lunged again. This time though, I was better prepared, using the two halves of my staff to block its staff, and pushing it away from me before hitting it again in the head.

It shoved me back, and lunged again. It was as if I was infinitely far away as I saw the edge of the rod make contact with the center of my chest, sending a pain I had never felt before rippling through my body, as white hot as a fever at its highest point, echoing through my bones as it looked for a way out but found none

My breath caught in my throat, and I could feel something warm and sticky dripping down my front. My legs refused to hold me up any more as I fell to my knees, slumping even farther with every passing second. The Rahkshi, no longer interested in me, returned to its earlier business, stalking away towards the frightened matoran even as I saw black crawling from the edge of my vision. My heartbeat was loud in my ears, a hollow sound that terrified me, even as the scene faded from my view.

The last thing I saw before completely collapsing was that of Yori Yoi and Frost coming down with a feral roar on the unsuspecting Rahkshi. My eyes shifted, and I saw the bright blue sky, a feeling of cold numbness embraced my body. I no longer felt the tingle of that dark power at the back of my mind. For once, it had gone silent, and that was both peaceful and frightening. I was alone. I was going to die alone, and it frightened me more than anything else in the world.

I could see a figure in the darkness as everything else faded. The person was indiscernible as it walked towards me and was followed by two others, but I felt an odd sense of comfort that I finally realized was familiarity as the first face finally came in to focus, a face I knew I recognized, that wore comforting smile that I had only seen a few times. The two other people, I could now make out as a man and woman, stood behind him, smiles on their faces as well as they watched me.

"Dan?" I breathed, hardly daring to believe this.

"Jaden," he said, offering his hand to me, "There are two people that want to meet you."

I took his hand willingly, smiling at the familiarity of his palm against mine. "Who…who are you?" I asked of the others, wracking my memory as I tried to remember if I'd ever known this pair.

"Jaden," he said, "meet your parents."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

When the last Rahkshi was defeated Kopaka rushed to Jaden's side. He had seen her fall but had not seen why and wondered why she had not gotten up. As he came across her body he saw her eyes staring up void of life, a gaping hole in her chest, red staining her front. He knew little of humans, but it was not hard to guess that she was indeed dead. Her body was motionless, and there were no signs that she would ever move again. He knelt down beside her body and shut her eyes, unable to stand the lifeless stare she gave. The others gathered around, paying respect.

"There is nothing more that can be done here," Kopaka said.

"We will bury her next to Dan," Gali suggested, "She would have wanted that."

"This is all my fault," Yori finally said, "I never should have encouraged her. She seemed so adamant about not going. I never thought…"

"You were not the only one, Yori," Tahu said remorsefully, "I goaded her as well."

All was quiet for a moment before Frost perked up.

"There may still be a chance for her."

"What are you talking about? We watched Dan die from the same injury. She's gone," Tahu said.

"This isn't something that can be done for just anyone. There are special circumstances involved, but it's not anything we can do. It must be Yori's decision," he explained as he looked to Yori Yoi.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing I can do," Yori said, confused by what Frost was proposing. Frost looked to him with a knowing glare. That was when it dawned on Yori Yoi.

"No, Frost. I can't do that. You don't even know if it will work," he said.

"What are you two talking about?" Kopaka questioned.

"There is a legend that a dragon can revive a dead human by sharing half of his heart. It can only be done when there is a bond between that dragon and human, but it's just a legend, Frost," Yori explained, "There is no proof that it actually works, and even if it did, there is no bond between us."

"Yori Yoi," Frost said firmly as he stared at him, "it can work. My father was only six years old when his father shared his heart with a human. It will work, Yori. I know it."

"And how long did either of them live, Frost?" Yori countered. "That is not a life. That's prolonging the inevitable. The heart will not last. I cannot do that to her."

"Would you rather live with the regret that you did not save her when you had the opportunity?" Frost challenged.

"I can't do it," Yori muttered as he looked away.

Kopaka looked to Frost who looked angrier than Kopaka had ever seen him. Frost just wasn't the type who lost his temper. So when he struck out at Yori, slapping him across the face with his massive paw, Kopaka couldn't help but wince. Yori went down the ground with a thud as he looked up at Frost, shock rather than anger on his features.

"I've tolerated as much of your attitude as anyone could ever bear," Frost snapped. "That girl has done more for you than I ever could have done, and now when she needs you most, you're just going to abandon her? How dare you," he accused.

"Frost, I-"

"Don't make excuses to me. You called her a coward for refusing to come. Look at her, Yori. She gave her life trying to save them. Who is the coward now, Yori Yoi?"

"What if it doesn't work? What then?"

"It will work," Frost said gently, lowering his gaze. "But it must be your choice. You have to want it, too."

Yori looked past Frost to Jaden's body. Getting back on his feet he approached her, tears welling up in his eyes. Kopaka could tell that the dragon was terrified of what he was about to do. Kopaka wasn't sure if the apparent dangers of what they were about to do were worth bringing Jaden back. But Frost was sure that it would work. Was it possible?

Yori sat down beside Jaden's body and took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever he was about to do. With one paw he lifted one of the larger scales that covered his chest revealing the leathery skin beneath. With his other, he swiped one claw across the layer skin, wincing as he did so. Dark blue began to drip from the wound as he reached into his chest, his face contorting at the effort. As he pulled his paw from his chest, he held something small that beat with a steady pulse. Kopaka could only assume that it was the half heart they had spoken of.

Tears began to flow from the dragon's eyes, whether from pain or sorrow, Kopaka could not be entirely certain. Yori took the small beating heart and placed it in the cavity of Jaden's chest. When nothing happened, Yori Yoi seemed to double over nearly falling to the ground if Frost had not let him lean against his shoulder. His tears flowed more freely as despair overcame him, several of his tears falling on her body.

"I told you, Frost," he murmured. "It didn't work."

Kopaka looked from Yori to Jaden's still lifeless body and could not help but feel sympathy for the creature. He had given what little left he could, and still it was not enough to save her.

Kopaka stood, ready to leave with the others when he noticed something that had begun to glow on her. There was a medallion around her neck with the emblem of a dragon head on it that had begun to glow. Kopaka looked to Yori Yoi and Frost for an explanation, but the looks on their faces gave him no answer. He looked back to the glowing medallion as the glow began to intensify before it seemed to envelop her and explode with a white light, causing them all to look away. When Kopaka finally looked back, the wound in her chest was gone. He knelt back down and looked her over, expecting her to get up.

"Jaden?"

* * *

I reached out to my parents, a feeling of joy I had never felt before

washing over me. For the first time since I could remember, I felt like I had finally come home. I wrapped both arms around them and held them close. Yes, I knew that this meant that they were dead, but that didn't matter to me. We were finally together again, and that was more than I could have ever asked for. I pulled away and looked at them, still in shock of what was happening.

"Mom, Dad, I can't believe this," I breathed. "I have so many questions, so many things I need to know."

"I know," my father said, "but you are here too soon. It is not yet time for you."

I looked at him in confusion. What did he mean? It wasn't like I could go back.

"Jaden, he's right," Dan affirmed. "You have to go back."

"Go back?" I questioned. "What do you mean? I can't just go back. I finally found my family, Dan. How can you all say I have to go back? There's no way for me to go back."

"Jaden," Dan said gently, taking hold of my shoulders, "you don't have much time left here. You will go back, Jaden. You have a long road ahead of you still."

"No, Dan," I said firmly, "I can't go back. I died. End of story. I'm stuck here."

As I said that, I could feel something pulling on me. I couldn't feel anything tangible grab me, but whatever it was kept pulling. I grabbed on to Dan, refusing to leave them behind. I had just found them again. I wasn't about to lose my family.

"Dan, please, help me," I pleaded, holding on to his arm as tight as I could.

"We're never too far away, Jaden," Dan said with that soft smile.

I stared at my parents one last time knowing that my grip would not hold. They smiled at me and my mother said, "We love you," as the invisible force gave a harder yank and pulled me away.

I could feel myself falling. How pulling had led to falling I had no clue. My breathing became ragged as I saw memories flash in front of me. I saw the battle with the Rahkshi, Ilsa dying at my hand, Dan's death, everything that had happened. They went by in flashes working backwards until I saw her again, the ghostly figure that seemed to haunt me. She stared at me, a knowing look in her eye before I could feel myself stop with a thud. Oxygen, if it could still be called that in the state I was in, rushed from my lungs. I felt pain in my chest and shut my eyes against it as I gasped for air, but none would come. I felt like a fish on land gaping for any air I could find. I could feel the pain intensify in my chest as I gave one last effort to suck in air.

My eyes shot open as I gasped for air, oxygen finally filling my lungs as I bolted forward. My hands shot out, grabbing at anything possible until I felt someone grabbing me to steady me. I looked over to see a white hand gripping my arm, keeping me from falling over. It took several more seconds for me to realize that the other toa were staring at me and that the hole that had been in my chest was gone.

Grabbing the remains of my shirt, I covered myself up, realizing that I was half exposed, not that they probably cared at the moment.

"Jaden, are you all right?" I heard Kopaka ask.

I wasn't exactly sure how to answer him. Yes, I was all right considering that I was alive again. No, I wasn't all right, because now I knew what had happened to my parents, and I was never going to see them again in the foreseeable future. But a more important question remained.

"How did this happen? I was dead," I finally said as the shock began to wear off.

Kopaka looked over his shoulder at Yori Yoi who looked pale, at least what could be considered pale for him which really wasn't much of a difference from his normal self. I saw something thick and blue dripping down his chest and the same thick blue covered one of his scaly paws. I could only assume it was blood since I didn't see any other source of the fluid. Frost was next to Yori Yoi, letting the younger dragon lean against him, a seemingly proud smile on his face. Putting two and two together, I could only assume what he had done.

"Yori," I said, my breath still half caught in my throat, "you…you cut out your heart? Why? I thought it was just a legend."

He looked at me, a small smile forming on his lips.

"You saved my life once. I figured it was time to return the favor," he answered.

I thought over what he was saying and what he had told me before. The last time I had heard of a dragon sharing his heart with a human, neither of them lasted beyond a month. Whether that was because of the time or something else entirely, I wasn't sure. The only thing I was sure of at the time was that I was alive, the Rahkshi were apparently gone, and everything was back to a certain state of normal. If that was so, then who was the tall gold toa looking person standing several feet away from me?

It was several hours later that everything started making some sense again. Takua was now Toa Takanuva because of the mask of light that he now wore. Jaller was still dead, which didn't lighten the mood at all, and to add to it, Takanuva had the other toa constructing some vehicle to ride through some dark tunnels to face Makuta, the one who had sent the Rahkshi after him in the first place. And I thought I was crazy for doing what I had done. When was enough going to be enough?

For awhile Takanuva had disappeared, but it wasn't hard to guess where he had gone. Jaller's mask had been removed and was now floating-how, I didn't know-as a memorial to the brave matoran. As I approached him I could hear him say, "All of this just to discover who I am?"

"I know how you feel," I said. He turned and looked to me, a bit startled by my presence. "I asked myself the same question several times."

"And?" he questioned.

"I have yet to find a good answer to that question," I replied. "But I did learn one thing from it all." He looked at me expectantly. "Shit happens in life. There's nothing any of us can do to change it. But, we can choose to look it in the eye for what it is and face it head on. Hiding in a hole won't show you who you are or help you get out of a mess. You should know that from experience."

"Rushing in blindly never helped anyone either. You of all people should know that," he replied.

I had to admit he had a point there, but that wasn't exactly what I was going for.

"Listen, all I'm saying is you're not going to find what you're looking for by asking the dead. You and I both know the answer to your question. The real question is what are you going to do about it?"

He turned from me to look at Jaller's mask. Several moments of silence passed as he thought it over. I was about to speak when he turned back to me.

"My duty is clear. Jaller's sacrifice will not be in vain," he said.

I smirked at him and touched his shoulder. "Let's go," I said and walked back with him to the now finished vehicle. I wasn't quite sure what he planning to do since the vehicle reminded me of a motorcycle and could fit only one person. The question of how to actually find Makuta was answered by Takanuva taking some worm looking creature that had been inside one of the Rahkshi and letting it lead the way back. Personally, I still hated the damn thing and would have rather killed it, but if it was going to be of some use, I guess I was going to have to let it live awhile longer.

One of the blue matoran that had addressed herself as Hahli stepped forward carrying Jaller's mask, placing it on the front of the vehicle.

"Jaller was your herald. Let him continue to lead you to victory," she said.

There was a moment of silence before Takanuva acknowledged her. Now that it was time for them to finally leave, the question was raised on how they were all going to get there on such a small transport.

"You shall not join me," Takanuva answered.

"But united, our power defeated the Rahkshi," Pohatu pointed out.

"Certainly it will take nothing less to defeat the Makuta," Tahu said.

"Takanuva," I said, "they're right. You can't do this alone." I thought I had done some pretty crazy things over the past several days, but this was worse. This was pure insanity.

"I have but one destiny. Yours lie with the matoran and the turaga. Gather them and wait for my return," Takanuva said and mounted the vehicle, descending into the darkness below. We all stood there for a moment staring down into the hole before going about doing what was asked of them. I suppose it wasn't too difficult. Many of the matoran had already come with the turaga anyways since their villages had been destroyed. It wasn't long before the rest were gathered.

"What do you think his plan is?" I asked Yori after we had gotten away from the others.

"Your guess is as good as mine. If he does manage to find the Makuta, he won't be able to defeat him alone. Toa of light or not, he's no stronger than the other toa."

"He did manage to take out one Rahkshi all by himself. None of the others were able to do that," I noted.

"He had the element of surprise. The Rahkshi didn't know what it was up against until the last second. It was a lucky shot."

"I don't know. Supposedly he was made to be able to take on Makuta and even win in a fight. There's always a chance that it wasn't just luck."

"Might I remind you that you didn't see that part of the fight. You were a bit preoccupied at that particular moment in time," he pointed out.

I looked away, no fond of remember that part. Despite the fact that I was dead, it was probably one of the happiest moments I'd had in so long. I finally felt like I was home for the first time in nearly a month, and then it was just ripped away, just like that. I couldn't be angry at Yori Yoi for that. I had to admit, what he did had to have taken quite a bit of courage, but part of me wished he hadn't.

"I'm sorry, Jaden. I didn't mean to bring it up. I'm sure it was…well, awful," he apologized.

"No," I said, turning back to him. "It was actually…almost pleasant. I didn't know what to expect. Darkness, I suppose, but I found something…something wonderful but…sad at the same time."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I saw Dan there, waiting for me I guess. And there were two people with him," I explained. "He told me they were my parents. I couldn't believe it at first, but…I could just…it felt right, you know?"

"I can understand. I never really knew my parents. Frost told me they had died trying to fight off other dragons, trying to protect me. He was like a father to me for the longest time. Even so, it still didn't feel the same. But, every now and then, when I dream, I dream they're here again, watching me, and in those moments, everything feels right again." He stopped and looked at me. "They're never really gone, Jaden. You just have to be on the lookout for them. Who knows? Maybe you'll see them again in your dreams."

I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms around one of his legs, doing my best to give him a hug. He gently placed his other paw on back as an attempt to return the hug.

"I think your parents would be proud of you for what you've done here, despite how reckless it was," he said with a smile.

I released him so I could really look at him again.

"You were pretty reckless yourself, flying in on those Rahkshi like that," I teased.

He smiled back, several pearl white teeth showing. Several days ago, if I had seen him smile like that, I would probably have cowered away. Now, I didn't really mind. It made me wonder just how much I had really changed in such a short amount of time. If my friends saw me again, I wondered what they would think of me.

As these thoughts ran through my mind, I noticed something was happening around the hole that Takanuva had gone down. Me and Yori made our way back over to see Hahli standing on a rock, Jaller's mask in her hands. I briefly wondered how she had gotten her hands on it since she had attached it to Takanuva's transport, but I figured that now was not the best time to ask that question.

Everyone seemed to be talking at once, arguing over whether or not to go down the hole, from what I could make out, and Hahli being unsuccessful at quieting them until one of turaga Vakama called the to silence.

"This island is a great and wondrous place. Never have any been as blessed as we are to live in such a paradise," she said. Everyone there nodded in agreement and waited for her to continue. "I love my home, and Jaller loved it, too. But above all, Jaller respected his duty. Let us repay him by doing out duty. Let us remember him by fulfilling our destiny. Let us go forward together. Let us awaken the great spirit."

Everyone cheered their agreement and decided that the toa and turaga would journey down into the tunnels to join Takanuva.

"Yori, I'm going with them," I said as I made my way to the hole.

"Not so fast," he said, putting his tail in front of me. "I just now got you back from the clutches of death, and you want to go traipsing about in some dark tunnel after the thing that sent the Rahkshi in the first place. Correct me if I've been wrong so far."

"I'll be careful, Yori. I'm going to see this through to the end."

He looked at me skeptically before lowering his tail. "I can't protect you down there. If ut looks like serious trouble, get out of there as fast as you can. There will be little for you to do except get hurt or worse."

"Have a bit of faith, Yori. I'm starting to think you don't trust me very much."

"Can you blame me? You and trouble seem to be attracted to each other," he commented.

I smirked at him as I lowered myself down the hole and followed the others through dark tunnels. It was hard to say how far or how long we travelled before coming across the entrance to what I assumed was Makuta's lair. The area was dimly lit, a sickly green providing what illumination there was. As we crossed the threshold, the first thing that came in to sight were several tall, green pillars that seemed to provide the light, while several others were shattered, their remnants scattered about the cavern. After that was what could only be described huge.

Whatever it was towered over even the toa, maroon covering its body as it held a menacing staff with what looked more like a claw at one end holding a large, metallic looking orb.

"An audience gathers for your final failure," it said with a dark, raspy voice that made my skin crawl. This thing must be Makuta.

Once again I could hear the voice in the back of my head, the headache returning stronger than the last time. It had finally made sense. Makuta must have been behind the flash in the tunnels of Onu Koro. Takua-or Takanuva, I wasn't sure which to call him now-had said he saw Makuta. Now I was starting to regret my decision to come along. If I lost control of it now, there was only going to be more trouble for them to deal with.

I hardly paid attention as Takanuva said something that was supposed to be motivating while the pain was becoming worse. I was nearly doubled over when I heard what sounded like a dull explosion from above me. I looked up just in time to see several tons of rock plummeting down and jumped out of the way.

With the minor diversion from the pain, I looked up to see Takanuva flying through the air towards Makuta. Makuta reacted, hurling the sphere towards the airborne toa. The rest seemed to move in slow motion as Takanuva curled into a ball, catching the sphere with a larger version of the hammer and scoop weapon I had seen him use earlier, and hurled the ball back Makuta, sending him flying several feet into a wall.

I tried to stand up, thinking that Makuta had finally been defeated. The twinge of pain that ran across my skull informed me otherwise. I clutched my head, trying with all my might to force the evil voice back to the depths of wherever it had come from. It wasn't going well.

I looked up again to see how the fight was going. Takanuva was on Makuta's chest, grabbing his face and yanking as hard as he could. Everyone stared on as sparks flew from Makuta's face as his mask was removed. Before anyone could tell if the mask had been completely removed, they both fell into a water like substance in the middle of the room.

As they disappeared into its depths, the pain in my head subsided, I only hoped signaling that Makuta was defeated. But what of Takanuva? We all crowded around the pool, each one trying to locate the fallen hero and villain.

Moments later, something bright and gold began to shine on top of the pool, taking the shape of the insignia that was on the floor. I hoped that this was a good sign and not more trouble.

I heard Vakama say, "Mata Nui," as he seemed to almost smile, not that I could really tell since he had no definitive mouth.

The symbol began to grow, and everyone rushed away from the pool moments before a pulse of light swept across the room. When I looked back, something began to rise from the pool. At first it looked like Takanuva, but as the form continued to rise, it was clear that it was not just Takanuva. Whatever it was had the body and Half the face of Makuta, but had the arms and other half of Takanuva's face.

From the looks on everyone else's face no one was sure if this new figure vould be trusted. After all, he did look more like Makuta than Takanuva. After what seemed like minutes of silence, the figure spoke, his voice a combination of the two.

"Light has revealed the will of Mata Nui. Our brother must be awakened."

With that he walked over to a stone door in the shape of a matoran face and began to lift it. The strain was obvious as he slowly lifted the door on to his shoulders and held it there as he urged everyone to go through quickly. Wasting no time, I ran through the doorway with the others, not quite sure of where it was going to lead us to.

We all looked back to see if the Takanuva-Makuta hybrid would come through with us to see Hahli standing beside him, jaller's mask on the floor with his massive hand hovering over it. A light came from his hands, and we all watched in amazement as a body formed beneath the mask and Jaller stood up. I could hardly believe it. Was such a thing possible? Even as I tried to convince myself that it was impossible, there was the proof in front of me.

Hahli helped him up and as they began to get away from the door it collapsed on its holder, a bright light flashing as the mask of light came sliding forward. It had all happened so fast no one seemed to know quite what to say or think of it.

Turaga Vakama stepped forward and picked up the mask and proceeded down the short corridor. Behind us was a large cavern, the same symbol of three dots inside two swirls on the floor.

"Let us awaken the Great Spirit," he said as he guided Jaller and Hahli over to the symbol.

As he put them over the two outside dots and recited several words, the dots began to glow, the toa stood in a line, fist to fist, and looked on. I stepped to the side, trying to be out of the way as much as possible.

As Turaga Vakama said, "Destiny," he placed the mask of light on the middle dot and it began to spin around and rose up on a pillar of light, a vague form of the old Takua showing as the body of Takanuva appeared before us. He looked down at Jaller and stepped beside him.

"You're alive!" Jaller exclaimed. "Kohli head, you could have been Makuta bones."

"Could have been, but I'm not," Takanuva said with a smirk.

The next several days passed rather quietly. The matoran were going around trying to rebuild their homes and villages with the toa providing whatever assistance they could. Turaga Vakama spent most of his time educating Takanuva, Hahli and Jaller on the history of the matoran and where they had originally come from and such. I, unfortunately, was of little help during reconstruction due to the fact that I could not safely work in a volcano or up in the frigid mountains, and Onukoro was buried underneath several tons of rock which I was ill qualified to help move, not that I didn't attempt to help.

As I sat down on one of the several beaches that surrounded the island, I couldn't help but feel a sense of belonging. The smell of the salt air brought back memories of camping trips on the coast of Alaska with my friends, the happier days of my life. I buried my toes in the sand, enjoying the tingly feeling as it ran through my toes. While my thoughts wandered off I barely noticed Yori Yoi lay down beside me.

"What are you thinking of?" he asked when I didn't say anything.

"Better times in my life," I answered, turning to look at him.

"Do you regret leaving your home?" he asked.

"I didn't have much choice on that, but no, not anymore. This," I said as I ran my hands through the sand, "is my home now, even if it is only for a few months more."

"I wish there was something else that could be done," he lamented, sorrow crossing his features.

"Who knows, Yori, maybe someday in the next month or so, we might just find a way to beat it. I'm beginning to believe that just about anything is possible," I said as I leaned against him.

"You sound so sure," he said.

"Not really," I said. "But whatever does happen, I know I'll have you and Frost and the others there by my side, if I need you."

"I promise I'll be there when you need me," he said, lowering his head to my level.

I stroked his muzzle as I looked out over the sun set.

"Even if these are my last months, at least I'll enjoy them with you."

We sat there watching the sun go down slowly, the future a hazy vision, but whatever it had in store for us, I knew Yori Yoi would be there for me as I would be there for him.

* * *

**AN: So here's the final chapter. Normally I'd wait to get this back from my beta reader, but I have been unable to get a hold of her, and I know you guys are ready for the end of the story. So here it is. And originally there was going to be a sequal, but there's obviously not enough interest in the story for a sequal. For those of you who may have wanted more, sorry. And for those who are just happy for the end, here you go. Hope you enjoyed the story! :)**


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